A Generation Packed with Potential
by A-LionGleek
Summary: Two years before the fateful reunion. Two years before Will Schuester himself got to know the 13 young performers who would serve as the new generation that would allow him the honor of finally reuniting with the old generation that started it all. In that time, Emma Schuester had already managed to get her own small taste of what was to come. This story . . . tells us how.


**Hello ya'll! I hope you lot haven't lost faith in me and that you are still willing to get a taste of yet more Glee awesomeness from me, cuz I am back! SO sorry I've kept you waiting for so long! But hey, with my writing plans and heaping amount of ideas to take care of (plus other stuff IRL), such is the pain. But now, I am proud to admit that I've reached a sufficient stopping point in my Teen Titans fanfiction work to make a comeback to my work in the Glee fanfiction fandom! And here's to hoping that this little oneshot of mine is enough to make up for the HORRIDLY LONG WAIT you've all been put through! And of course, with that territory, here's me hoping you read, enjoy, and review this latest piece of Glee-ful literature that I now finally break my current Glee FF hiatus with!**

 **A/N: But first, for the first time in so long (when it comes to this fandom anyway), I'd best warn you that, no, I do not own Glee. Nor do I own ANY of the songs used in this newest addition to the GWAFU. Get that? Got that? Good. And now, time to start the show!**

 **A Generation Packed with Potential**

It was a beautiful day in May, 2033, and Emma Schuester had never thought it possible for her to feel so conspicuous, least of all in the current circumstances she was in. She was currently in the parking lot of a local middle school in her home town of Lima, Ohio, planning to be in the audience to attend a local town talent show that the school was hosting even though the school year itself had already ended. The school and neighborhood was just kind like that. She and her family had always attended this show for the last five to ten years since the school in question had started hosting the local neighborhood talent shows, and for good reason.

Her husband, a delightful man named Will, had an intense passion for the arts, particularly those related to music and show choir. He was also the long-standing director of the show choir club New Directions at the local high school he worked at, William McKinley High School. Thus, attending these talent shows had often allowed him the chance to keep an eye out for potential new talent to grace his club in future years if any students amongst the performers who sang ended up going to McKinley High. And of course, the couple's now 20-year old eldest son Daniel and his newly graduated from elementary school brother Victor had also been avid supporters of the arts through dutifully attending the talent shows alongside their parents.

This time, however, due to some unforeseen scheduling conflicts, the local middle school hosting the talent show had been forced to move the date of the show to earlier than usual. While Emma had managed to be free on the weekend day in mid-May in which the show would now be taking place, her husband and sons had not been so lucky.

Her two sons both had important reasons to not be present. In Daniel's case, his current term at college hadn't yet finished, and he currently had several important matters to attend to that prevented him from having the proper time to focus on attending a talent show in his home town. As for Victor, he admittedly could have gone with his mother to attend the talent show. However, just two days prior to the news about the change in schedule, he'd promised his close friend Sarah Conroy that he'd be there in the audience with her parents to provide his support for her at an important performance she would be in for her ballet lessons that had turned out to be set for the exact same time and day as the talent show. And Emma, knowing just how important it was for Victor to keep his promise to his good friend, had been more than happy to give him the all clear to go ahead and keep his word to Sarah and let her attend the talent show without him. All despite her younger son initially being willing to try to find some way to still attend the talent show alongside her.

As for her husband, William had reasons to skip attending the talent show this year that were just as much related to business as they were for personal matters. With the current school year for McKinley High having not yet finished, he had been held back not only by his work, but also by the fact that the talent show had been rescheduled for the exact same week that had been set for the 2033 Show Choir Nationals championship. Thus, he was now in Boston with his current roster of students in the New Directions doing his work needed for their performance this year.

Thus, Emma now found herself alone in the parking lot, feeling far more nervous about attending this personal event of importance without her husband and sons then she'd been expecting; and she still hadn't even gotten out of her car yet! With a final deep breath, she finally mustered up the courage to turn off the ignition, remove the keys, and get out of her car.

For a few minutes, she stood still and idle next to the driver's side door of her car, mentally taking deep breaths and counting to 10 repeatedly in her mind to make sure she remained calm and unflustered, her red hair flowing gently in the breeze. "I can do this," she thought to herself. "I've attended this talent show multiple times already alongside Will and the boys. I can handle attending it on my own. There are worse things that I could be attending without them around." Even so, she still felt herself fighting the gradually strengthening urge to look over her outfit painstakingly to check for even the slightest spot of dirt or similar apparent imperfection.

She mentally sighed at this. From a young age, she'd had a particularly strong case of obsessive-compulsive disorder, otherwise known as OCD. She'd always been something of a neat freak and one to always dutifully keep herself and her room clean when she was a child, much to the amusement of her brother and slight irritation of her much more rebellious sister. Unfortunately, her parents, viewing the trait as both somewhat unusual and as a potential means of personal amusement, had put her through a not entirely pleasant gradual experience that had led to her natural penchant for cleanliness developing into a severe case of OCD, which they had only made worse by taking to referring to her almost exclusively by the very mean spirited pet name 'Freaky-Deeky'. And at one point, in her early 20s, her brother had unwittingly strengthened it further when he'd had her briefly take a small-time job helping him clean the bottles at the milk factory he worked at. Nowadays, all thanks to Will, she was still routinely taking her prescription meds to keep her OCD under control. But even so, despite her regularly sticking to the schedule that her prescription required of her, there were some days that it worked less effectively then on others. And right now, she was starting to get the feeling that this day could yet turn into one of those days if she wasn't careful.

She closed eyes, took a deep breath, and exhaled. "Keep it together Emma," she thought to herself. "There is no need to worry. Everything will be perfectly fine. You've attended this show plenty of times before. And besides, if not for yourself and your sons, you're at least doing it for Will. Yes, for Will. Just think, this wouldn't be the first time that children amongst the performers have ended up joining his club if any of today's performers have good enough singing ability and become students at McKinley High. And if you do see any singing children amongst today's performers who seem to have the right level of talent needed, just think of how proud he'll be when you tell him about them." She nodded her head, having now firmly made her decision. "Yes," she thought to herself. "You are going to go in there. You are going to attend this show. And you are _going_ to sit it through and keep your eyes wide open for any potential future talent to join Will's club."

Emma opened her eyes and looked straight ahead towards the school. "Well, here goes nothing," she whispered to herself. Her mind made up, she confidently started making her way towards the entrance to the school, already remembering by heart the route she needed to take to reach the makeshift auditorium that she knew would once again have been set up in the gym for the talent show.

. . . . .

Inside the school, and in fact in the foyer of the main building, there were three young students amongst the performers who would soon experience the event that would allow for their first opportunity at truly being stars without even realizing it. At the moment, they were all standing around nearby a wood and glass chest of cabinets that served as a case of awards while their parents had a friendly chat further ahead of the doors to the foyer.

The three kids couldn't have been happier. This was going to be the first time they'd be performing for anyone apart from their families or their own personal amusement. Also, they were looking forward to their upcoming performance for a more personal reason as well. Since childhood, the three of them had been the absolute best of friends, and they had never felt more proud then the current moment to be sharing this powerful experience together. And boy were they excited.

One of the three children, a bespectacled Korean American boy named Cody, let out a sigh of contentment. "I still can't believe we're actually doing this."

"Oh you'd better believe it," said the only girl amongst the trio. She chuckled, her smile seeming to shine almost unnaturally bright on her dark face. "Like it or not, today's the day we expose ourselves to the public and get well on the way to our eventual stardom. And I for one, cannot wait."

"You got that right," said the third companion, a respectably dark skinned Indian American boy. He rubbed his hand against the back of his head. "I'll say this, it shall truly be an honor for us to be singing together as a trio once more."

Cody chuckled. "Ain't that the truth?" He shook his head side to side, and then directed a teasing grin at the girl. "Still, I will admit, I'm still very glad indeed that Bailey's allowing us to sing a song that isn't by Aretha Franklin or Ella Fitzgerald or some other great and powerful black singer for once."

Bailey, herself an African American, raised her eyebrow at the Korean American. "Care to repeat that?"

"Oh don't get me wrong," said Cody. "I've got no problem with black people, let alone with black artists. But seriously Bailey; do you have any idea how many times in a row you've had us perform Aretha Franklin's _Respect_? Honestly girl, we've done that song to death, and I'm getting quite sick of it."

"Join the club."

Bailey seemed to slump, and she turned to face the Indian American. "Not you to Raj."

"I'm serious," said Raj. "You've had us perform that song to many times. And don't get me started on Mercedes Evans's _Hell to the No_."

"Not my fault you don't appreciate their work."

"Oh we appreciate them just fine," said Cody. "So much that we're actually starting to get insulted at how you've been so insistent over the course of all these years on having us bleed all their best songs dry."

"Well excuse me for showcasing my pride in my heritage," said Bailey in a clear mixture of annoyance and teasing banter.

"This has nothing to do with that, and you know it," said Cody.

"Well I'm black," said Bailey. "And I'm darn proud of it to."

"Guys enough," said Raj. "Let's just appreciate how we're going to be performing again at all together." He grinned. "After all, starting next school year, assuming you manage to successfully enroll in McKinley, we'll all finally be in high school together, and the exact same one at that."

Raj did have a point. As of the end of the current school year, Cody and Bailey had finally graduated middle school, whereas Raj himself had already graduated from middle school the previous year and would be undergoing his sophomore year of high school the very next school year. And of course, in the event that Cody and Bailey successfully enrolled at McKinley High, they'd be in the exact same school as their Indian American friend. The Korean and African American grinned happily. "Indeed true," Cody admitted.

The Indian American chuckled. "Come on," said Raj. "Let's go join back up with our parents. And for that matter, we'd best get to the talent show to. After all, we are the opening act."

"Say what?"

Bailey chuckled at Cody's apparent surprise at being the first ones to perform in the talent show. "Ready yourselves Lima, cause your future big star is on her way."

"And her public awaits," said Raj. Giggling, the two darker skinned kids began to make their way up to where their parents were waiting. Cody hung back for a moment, still somewhat unnerved at being the first in the spotlight. Then he sighed, groaned resignedly, and slowly made his way up to join his parents and friends as well.

. . . . .

Inside the makeshift auditorium, four younger kids were sitting on some seats in the frontal area reserved for the performers and their families. Unlike the trio in the school's main foyer, these four would be attending 8th grade the next year . . . or at least three of the four would be.

"It's really not fair that you still won't be attending with us next year," said one of the two girls amongst the group, a blonde with contrasting dark eyes.

"I have to agree with Amber," said the other girl amongst the group, a redhead with opaque blue eyes and a small white cane across her lap. "I may not be able to see, but even I can tell what's fair and what isn't. Not to mention, being friends with Dunlap has allowed me to get a pretty strong understanding of right and wrong."

One of the boys, also a redhead, sighed, and shook his head side to side. "I know it's not fair," said the ginger haired boy, a faint Scottish accent in his voice. He opened his eyes, revealing them to seemingly be a quite unnatural yellow color. "But honestly guys, there's no need to get too upset. I've already lasted as long in homeschool as I currently have and still managed to both be relatively well functioned in academics and maintain good friendships with you. One more year of home schooling won't do any harm. And besides, even with this one little setback, my parents are making progress. If we're lucky, we may yet be fully back on our feet just in time for freshman year."

The redhead boy's family, as he'd now conveniently brought up, was not entirely in the best of moments in life. His father, an immigrant from Scotland, had lost his job. One thing had led to another, and the boy and his parents had ended up losing their home as well. He had only been 6 years old. But over time, despite several headaches, plenty of drama, and multiple times of despair and seeming moments of being on the verge of giving up hope, the boy's parents had over time managed to gradually work things out. And now, as the boy had reminded his three companions, they were making steady progress and would very likely be back on their feet in time for him to join his friends outside home school for their freshman year of high school.

Their fourth companion shook his head, not entirely certain what to think. "I don't know Darren," said the boy. "You had similar optimistic expectations after we finished our 6th grade year to, and you've clearly seen how that turned out."

Darren sighed. "Look Dunlap, I get it. I got a little too excited and jumped the gun last summer. But this time I'm sure of it." He lifted his right fist, a small smile of smug triumph on his face. "Believe me, come freshman year, and if any bullies try to get up in your face like they've done before, they'll have to worry about me being able to personally bring them the pain right there at school instead of having to wait until they leave and I'm done with my homeschool lessons."

Dunlap unconsciously nodded in agreement. "Your skill at helping me out against bullies would certainly be much more appreciated in those kinds of circumstances." He lifted his hands, once more allowing his unnaturally pale skin color to sink in. Despite both of his parents having perfectly normal Caucasian skin tone, Dunlap himself, by sheer genetic bad luck, was an albino. Needless to say, with his pale skin, snowy white hair, and ruby red eyes, he'd had quite a bit of difficulty in making friends over the course of his life, and was very lucky indeed to have the close friendships he had with the three companions he was with right now. In fact, his father, as the blind redhead girl had conveniently reminded Darren, Amber, and himself, was a very powerful and strong lawyer who was now widely known for his backbreaking and virtually undefeatable work as an advocate for the rights of the disabled, special needs, and similar social outcasts as a direct result of the teasing and belittling that Dunlap had received as early as preschool. "Honestly, getting compared to Danny Phantom really starts to get insulting after its happened as long as it currently has." His eyes narrowed. "And don't get me started on what they say about my legs."

He directed a glare down at his legs. If he'd been wearing jeans, then it would have been very difficult to see any reason for the glare. However, since he was currently wearing shorts, the reason for the glare could be seen clear as day by just about anyone who so much as directed a glance. When he was 10, he and his parents had fallen victim to a car accident on the way home from a dinner at a fancy restaurant for his mom's birthday. His parents had managed to be successfully treated to full health with relatively few lasting injuries or similar adverse health effects. Dunlap, however, had gotten his legs so badly damaged that the doctors had been left with no other choice but to have them amputated and replaced with prosthetics. While they worked well enough to function almost exactly like ordinary flesh and blood legs, their obviously metallic nature had only further alienated him from most of the other kids his age that were already turned off by his being an albino. The fact that they also looked very much like the literally bony legs of a skeleton at first glance didn't help either. "Honestly," Dunlap growled. "If I hear one more Deathlok, Cyborg, or Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III joke directed my way, I swear . . ."

The blind girl reached out her hand . . . and accidentally placed it on Dunlap's left thigh. Dunlap looked over at the girl upon feeling the contact, while Darren and Amber briefly raised their eyebrows at the sight of where the ginger haired girl had unwittingly placed her hand but otherwise didn't comment.

"Dunlap," said the girl. "Listen carefully. I know that you hate how all the other kids apart from Darren, Amber, and I treat you. But please, have a little faith. I may not be able to visually get an exact idea of how you look in their eyes, but even if I had 20/20 vision, I'd still treat you the way I already do. Because even though I'm blind, my vision's still good enough to allow me to see you as the person and good friend that you are and not the monster that they see you as. And Amber and Darren have 20/20 vision and see you the exact same way I do." She nodded her head. "Trust me, we'll always be there for you, and so will our families." She pointed vaguely in the direction of Amber and Darren. "And once Darren joins us in high school after our middle school graduation, he'll be more than happy to make sure that you receive the same respect from everyone else that you already get from him, me, and Amber."

Dunlap stayed silent for a few moments, absorbing his friend's words. Then he smiled. "Thank you Naomi," he managed to say. He nodded his head. "I appreciate the sentiment. Really I do." He looked meaningfully at her hand. "But uh, my shoulder's a little higher up then . . . you know . . ."

Naomi realized her mistake, and her face turned a slightly lighter shade of red then her hair, and she was all too happy to let Dunlap reposition her hand so that it was on his shoulder like she'd initially intended. The albino boy looked over at Darren and Amber, and his eyes narrowed warningly at the sight of how Darren still looked quite amused. "Not a word."

Darren nodded his head, amused smile still on his face, and gave Dunlap a thumbs up, indicating that the albino had no need to worry. Dunlap continue to direct his warning glare at the ginger haired boy for another few seconds, and then nodded. He directed his attention towards the stage, and so did his three companions. Once again, they began patiently waiting for when the time came for the performances in the talent show.

. . . . .

Outside the school, but at a reasonably close distance from the gym, an African American boy about the same age as Cody and Bailey was sitting on a bench, checking his watch. At least, he appeared to be checking his watch at first glance. However, what his eyes were really on was a trio of girls his age standing about a yard or two away, deep in conversation.

Even at his current young age, the boy could definitely admit that the 3 girls were already quite attractive at their current age. In fact, he had a strong feeling that they'd be real lookers when they reached high school age, and would likely look even better than that once they reached adulthood. All three of them were white, two of them were blonde with blue eyes, and the other was, naturally, a brunette with dark eyes. All three of them had the same bodily build as well. The build in question indicated a fine mixture between slender and athletic. In fact, he had a feeling that he wouldn't be at all surprised if they ended up being cheerleaders at some point or other in their lives.

He smiled. He had liked girls all the way from the age where most other boys would still be in the 'girls have cooties' and 'ew, love is so gross' stages. In fact, he viewed himself to be a real ladies' man in the making. And he could tell that, if he ever encountered any of those 3 girls while in high school and they turned out to be as easy on the eyes as he currently expected them to be, he'd be more than willing to try his luck with them if they were willing to do the same for him.

He stared at the three girls for a couple more minutes, seemingly losing track of all else. As he did this, he soon came to admit, as pretty as all three of the girls were, one in particular seemed especially charming. The girl in question, one of the blondes, was standing in between the other two girls, had ivory skin that was a small shade lighter toned then the skin of the other blonde, and was behaving in a way that indicated that she played the role of 'leader' amongst the trio. His grin widened. "I'd so bet cash money that she'll be the head cheerleader at whatever high school she ends up going to," he thought to himself. "And boy she'll probably be one seriously good looking package."

"There you are."

The boy's eyes widened at the sound of the voice coming from behind him. He turned his head, and smiled sheepishly at the sight of another boy walking towards him. The other boy, a Caucasian boy with black hair and gray eyes, seemed to be both mildly annoyed and relieved to have found the black boy.

"Good grief man," said the white boy. He came to a stop directly behind the black boy. "Don't go leaving like that without a word again. I thought you were right behind me."

The other boy gave a slight wince upon hearing this. "Sorry Daniel, I thought I told you I'd be going off elsewhere for a bit. Should have stuck around to make sure you knew. I'm sorry."

Daniel shook his head side to side. "Whatever. Look Zach, whatever it is you split up from me for, did it really have to be done now?"

Zach raised his eyebrow. "What's so wrong with doing it now?"

"Dude," said Daniel. "The talent show, remember?"

"What's the hurry?" Zach shrugged as if still not seeing any problem. "Doesn't start for another half hour."

"Come on," said Daniel. "Have you not seen how many cars there are parked around here for the show? The closer it gets to when the show starts, it will be a nightmare trying to get into the auditorium with all the people that will be flooding the halls and such trying to get in. And I for one, would like to guarantee that I have a good seat in the performers' segment of the audience chairs long before then. And quite frankly, I wasn't expecting you to be among the small few performers who didn't share that viewpoint."

"It's cool man," said Zach. "Seriously, I'll be fine. I've got it all under control."

"Under control?" Daniel sighed. "You call this under control? Just sitting around outside on a bench doing nothing?"

"Who said I was doing nothing?"

"Well why else would you be just . . .?" Daniel paused, almost as if he'd just had an epiphany. His gray eyes narrowed, and he turned his head to his right. Upon sight of the very same trio of girls that Zach had been watching intently not too long ago, and had now paused their conversation at the sound of Daniel's admittedly not all that quiet conversation with Zach, his gray eyes narrowed in a scowl. He looked back at Zach, a clear 'are you for real?' look on his face. "Seriously Zach? You're out here by yourself, leaving your parents worried sick and potentially risking your chances at showing up on time for performing just to spy on a few girls? Again?"

"Hey," said Zach. "It's not my problem the chicks dig me so much."

"I'm serious." Daniel pinched the bridge of his nose, and sighed again. "Come on man, surely you could have a much better hobby to fill your time with than just sitting around watching girls from afar like this." He gestured his hand vaguely in the direction of the 3 girls once more. "I mean really, how can you stand spending so much time around so many different girls all the time? Especially those three of all people?"

"What's so bad about them?" Zach chuckled. "Just look at them. You gotta admit, they sure are easy on the eyes."

"I still find it so disturbing you learned the meaning of that phrase so early." Daniel sighed. "Look dude. Have you not heard the expression 'it's on the inside that counts'? Well I have, and I've spent enough time in relatively the same area as them to see past their outer looks and get a full view as to what they say and how they behave. And believe me," he pointed at the three girls once again. "Those 3 can't be trusted."

Zach blew a 'yeah right' raspberry. "Oh please. They can't be _that_ bad."

"Well I'll admit," said Daniel, pointing at the blonde standing to the right of the one that Zach had found particularly attention grabbing, "that one over there? She's not quite so bad from what I've seen of her. But the other two?" He looked in the trio's direction once again, iron glare still on his face, then back at Zach. "Trust me, they're bad news."

Zach guffawed. "You're just jealous that I'm man enough to admit that I like girls."

"Really Zach? This argument again?" Daniel sighed. "Seriously man, I'm only 13, and I _just_ graduated from middle school a couple weeks ago. I'm not old enough to be interested in that kind of thing. And even if I were, there's only one girl I could ever see myself potentially feeling that kind of way towards anyway."

Zach chuckled. "Ain't that the truth?" He shook his head side to side, half amused and half annoyed. "What is it with you man?"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Why do you always have to keep yourself so limited?"

Zach gestured around the area. "You should broaden your horizons. Check out all the other eye candy walking around. We both know perfectly well how many girls I've managed to check out. And believe me, Diana sure as heck ain't the only fish in the sea. Let yourself go dude. Check out some of the other options out there."

"Yeah, not happening."

Zach shrugged. "Your loss man. Really, you've got no idea what you're missing."

"Yeah well, what you call boring, I call being faithful."

Zach made a 'pshaw' spitting noise. "Faithful? So overrated."

"And you wonder why you're still single."

"What was that?"

"Whatever." Daniel turned around. "Just make sure you're in the auditorium with everyone else before the show starts. As for me, I'm gonna go find Diana." He started walking away from Zach. "She's probably finished with her little bit of business by now."

As Daniel walked away to search for his close female friend, Zach chuckled. "You've got it bad buddy, and there is so much awesome romance material you're allowing to slip through your fingers right now!"

"Newsflash," said Daniel without even turning his head, "still don't care."

Within seconds after this, Daniel was gone, and Zach shook his head side to side. "Man," he whispered to himself. "What is it with him? Seriously, there's so many lovely pieces of eye candy he could be getting a taste of right now alongside me." He sighed. "But hey, he's still my best friend, and if he wants to limit himself to just that one girl he's known his entire life, then I'd best just let him do so and respect his wishes." He smiled. "Cuz I'm nice that way."

Zach chuckled again, and turned his head to look at the trio of girls once more, only for his face to fall in a pout at the sight of the now empty space where the three girls in question had been standing. He looked in the direction that Daniel had taken to leave the area, his eyes narrowed in a mock glare. "Well done Daniel," he whispered just as much to himself as to his friend. "Now you've just cost me my pre-performance entertainment." He sighed. "Man."

Then he thought of one seemingly minor detail from Daniel's talk, and he began to feel somewhat worried. "Are my parents really getting worried about where I am?" He looked back towards the gym, thought to himself, and then hurriedly got up from his seat on the bench and ran towards the gym. "Best not let them stay that way. After all, who knows how long Daniel will spend with Diana before he comes back to the gym himself."

. . . . .

"I really wish that one boy wouldn't keep looking at us and all the other girls like that so often."

Charlotte Thornton sighed, rolling her blue eyes in annoyance. She tossed her ash blonde hair over her shoulder. "Come on Ashley," she said. "It's not that bad." She smiled, and placed her hands on her hips, all without pausing once in her stride. "Quite honestly, I like getting all that attention."

Ashley groaned. "Come on Charlotte, don't you feel at least a tiny bit concerned about all that? For all we know, he could grow up to be some bigshot serial rapist. And who knows who'll be his first target when he gets started."

The brunette amongst the trio chuckled, rolled her dark eyes mischievously, and tossed her hair over her shoulder in a move very similar to the one that Charlotte had done. "Don't be such a worry wort Ashley. There's nothing to fear."

"I'm serious Silena," said Ashley. She gestured vaguely in the direction that Zach had been positioned. "Really, did you not _see_ the look he had on his face. I could practically _feel_ the sleaziness coming from him. And believe me, if you had seen just how many other girls he's looked at as well as us, you'd be suspicious of him to."

"What's so bad about him looking at so many girls?" asked Charlotte. "God knows the three of us aren't the only good looking girls in this school, or even this town. Quite honestly, it would be insulting if a guy like him didn't give some much-deserved attention to all the future hotties this school and town have to offer."

"Ain't that the truth?" asked Silena.

"Girls come on," said Ashley. "I really don't like being objectified like that. It makes me feel uncomfortable."

Silena placed her hand on Ashley's shoulder. "Look Ashley," said the brunette. "Charlie and I? We're just messing with you."

"You may be," said Charlotte. "But I'm being dead serious." She looked ahead. "And hey, I certainly don't mind if that boy on the bench was looking at me the way you say he was. He certainly wouldn't be the first guy gawking and fawning all over my beautiful self."

Ashley sighed. "And that's another thing Charlotte. How can you stand having all those guys fawning over you?" She shuddered. "I mean honestly, the only person I can stand coming even close to acting like that towards me is Donovan, and any time more than one guy starts fawning over me at once, and he's not amongst them, I always feel as if I'm about to get mobbed, and not in the fun way."

"Your loss sister," said Charlotte, but in more of a good-natured teasing tone then an outwardly malicious one. She gave her hair another toss. "Honestly, the fact that so many guys look my way is something I take as a sign that they're smart enough to recognize a beautiful girl like me when they see one." She closed her eyes, sighing in content. "And I daresay a pretty girl such as me deserves a nice, sweet, kind, and equally good looking man. Don't you think?"

"And yet, out of the three of us, you're the one who's still single."

Charlotte guffawed at Silena's comment. "It ain't my fault that you and Ashley met the right guys at such a young age and have had your hearts set at first sight since day 1." She tossed her hair left and right. "Me? I'm a bit more willing to experiment and have a little fun while I search for my proper man."

"And thank God Ashley and I already have Donovan and Becket while we wait for you to find him." Silena chuckled. "You know, I must admit, as easy on the eyes as that black boy ogling you has the potential to be, that other guy who allowed us to become aware of the black boy's scrutiny with his loud shouting seemed like he could be a pretty satisfying piece of eye candy to."

"You mean Daniel?" Charlotte rolled her eyes. "Please. Don't make me laugh."

"What do you mean?" Silena asked.

Charlotte sighed. "Look I get it, yes he's kind of cute . . . for a nerd. But seriously, did you not hear what he was saying not too long ago?" She shook her head side to side. "Besides. Even without those words of his to consider, he's spent all this time in middle and elementary school never once sparing us a single glance. Clearly, he doesn't care, and a guy who doesn't bother to give even the slightest bit of attention to such lovely girls as ourselves most certainly does not deserve any affection from such girls."

"Your loss girl," said Silena.

"And besides." Charlotte chuckled. "Why should I care about that loser anyway? Come high school, and I'll be at the top of the food chain, head cheerleader, queen of the student body, the whole package." She smiled. "Just as we all agreed."

"Oh don't get too comfortable about that idea." Silena chuckled. "I don't know about Ashley, but I'm gonna be aiming pretty high to."

"Here we go again," said Ashley.

"Silena," said Charlotte. "We've talked about this. When we get to high school, if we become cheerleaders, I get to be the head, and you and Ashley will be my 2nd and 3rd in command at the very most. That was our agreement."

"Yeah," said Silena. "All the way back in 1st grade, when we were _six_." The brunette shook her head side to side. "It's been 8 years since then, and we've just graduated from middle school not too long ago. Things have changed since then."

"Well sorry to burst your bubble sister," said Charlotte. "But I ain't letting anyone steal my crown that easily, and especially not a friend of mine." She smiled. "Believe me, considering who my mom is, I do believe I quite deserve to have the same glorious elements of life in high school that she got to have. I mean come on, she was head cheerleader, full package of brains and beauty, had all the guys swooning over her. And I daresay I'm already off to a good start myself."

"Yeah well, don't get too comfortable." Silena grinned. "Like I said, I want that kind of power and prestige amongst the student body in high school just as much as you do. And as much of a reputation all the blood related women on your mother's side of the family have developed for their prowess in bed, that still doesn't change the fact that I'm a Townsend." She stopped walking. Charlotte and Ashley almost instinctively came to a stop as well, and Silena turned around to face Charlotte with her arms across her chest and wide grin still on her face. "And a Townsend always gets what she wants."

For a brief moment, Charlotte and Silena stared each other down. Then they both gave each other a matching grin of challenge. "Well may the best woman win then," said Charlotte.

"Yes indeed," said Silena.

"Oh for crying out loud." Ashley sighed. "This is ridiculous! We're all still 13! And we just graduated from middle school! None of us are legally, or biologically, women yet!" She gestured off vaguely in the direction of the gym. "Besides, we didn't come here to argue about our future. We came here to perform in the talent show. Now can we please just stay civil and friendly and go over to the gym? I'd really like to be in there and ready to perform before the rush of guests begins in the last minutes to go before show time. And besides, I'm sure all our parents, plus my sister, are in there worried sick waiting for us. Not to mention, so are Donovan and Becket."

Her two friends silently thought to themselves. "Fair point," Silena admitted.

Charlotte nodded. "Indeed." She placed her hands on her hips, smiling once more. "Very well girls. Let's get moving. We have a very lovely performance to give today, and I'd say we'd best be ready for it, not to mention the good kind of mobbing we'll likely receive once it's over."

"Now _that_ I can agree with you on," said Silena.

"Thank God," said Ashley.

Her two gal pals chuckled, and as one, the three girls started making their way over towards the gym.

. . . . .

It was surprisingly quiet and peaceful in the small area just outside the main entrance to the gym. Granted, it wasn't so quiet as to be a sign of imminent danger, but just more like quiet as in the only sounds being the peaceful breeze and singing of birds. For this, the young boy currently sitting on the bench within that area was quite grateful. Through a mixture of personal preference as well as very bad experience with sensory overload in less peaceful and quiet circumstances, he very much enjoyed having his moments of peace and tranquility. In fact, at that very moment, almost as if in preparation for his own upcoming performance in the talent show, he had his eyes closed and was peacefully humming the tune of _The Misty Mountains Cold_.

While the boy was busy humming, the two-year old German shepherd lying at his feet seemed to be likewise enjoying itself. Like its master, it had its eyes closed, and it was slowly bobbing its head left and right as if in enjoyment of the boy's humming. At one point, the dog's face gave off an expression that looked so realistically like a genuine smile of contentment, and at such an exactly appropriate moment for such an expression, that any onlookers would have been left thrown for a loop and wondering just how intelligent the dog actually was. But there were no onlookers around. And this was something that both the boy and the dog were quite grateful for. After all, the boy most certainly did not want to have some random onlooker around to potentially ruin his moment of peace, and the dog itself would have hardly taken to such an interruption any kindlier then his master would have.

After a couple minutes, the boy finally finished humming the tune, and he took a deep breath, and sighed in content. "Aw," he thought to himself. "Such joy to have this moment of peace and quiet."

"That was a pretty nice performance you had there."

At the sound of this voice, the boy opened his dark black eyes, a warm smile on his face as he recognized the sound. He turned his head in the direction the voice had come from; and sure enough, standing not too far away was a surprisingly good looking girl the same age as him. She had dark black hair, dazzling blue eyes, and fair skin of a shade that indicated it would become naturally tanned in color as she grew older. The boy's smile widened, a happy gleam starting to sparkle in his dark eyes at the sight of the girl. Even if he hadn't heard her voice just now, he would have recognized her anywhere. "Hey there Susan."

The 13-year old Susan Caraway chuckled at the sound of her name, tossed her dark hair side to side once, and sighed in content as she looked warmly at her very close male friend. "Hey there yourself Calvin." She nodded her head. "I see you're enjoying yourself."

Calvin Martenson chuckled, and rubbed his hand across his golden yellow blonde hair. "Sure am," he said. He looked down towards the dog lying at his feet, who had also raised his head and turned to look in Susan's direction, a grin on his face. "Weren't we Hobbes?"

Hobbes, the dog, barked twice at his master, and then started happily panting. Calvin smiled, that response had many times in the past proved to be the German shepherd's means of saying 'yes'. He looked back at Susan. "Yep," said the blonde boy. "We certainly were enjoying ourselves."

Susan chuckled, and shook her head side to side once again. She sighed, and folded her arms across her chest. "I take it you're ready now for our performances today?"

Calvin nodded. "As ready as I'll ever be." He sighed. "Still, I daresay that it's gonna take the luck of the Devil, or maybe even a miracle from God for me not to get stage fright. This is the first time I've ever performed in front of an audience that didn't consist solely of you, our families, or the kids and employees at the local daycare center. And you know perfectly well how long it took for me to develop the courage to even do that."

Susan nodded her head almost sagely. "Yes I do."

As she and everyone else who knew Calvin were quite aware, the boy had high-functioning Autism. He'd been diagnosed when he was five, and his life following the diagnosis had been understandably difficult. In fact, Susan was the only child his age that he truly considered a friend. It was entirely thanks to her, plus his parents and family, that he'd managed to make it as far in life as he currently had.

He felt Hobbes bump him on the leg with his head, and Calvin amended the thought. The loyal German shepherd had also played a role. His part in Calvin's life had begun while the dog was still a puppy. Calvin's parents had adopted him from a kennel as both a present to congratulate their son successfully making it from 6th grade to 7th grade and as a therapy dog to help him adjust even further in his social skills then he already had. And over the past two years since, the dog had proven quite skillful at his job, and had also managed to learn a large variety of tricks, some of which were naturally expected for a dog to be capable of learning and others being seemingly not the kind of thing that a dog was capable of learning how to do as easily as Hobbes had turned out to be.

Susan chuckled, and patted Calvin's shoulder with her hand. "Well nonetheless, I'm sure we'll all have plenty of fun. I for one can't wait for my performance, and neither can Diana. And regardless of the results," she leaned towards Calvin, a playful smile on her face. "I'm sure we'll have plenty of time for fun afterwards."

Hobbes unexpectedly barked thrice in rapid succession at the sound of this remark. Calvin and Susan turned their heads in shock to look at Hobbes, who was now staring at them with a look that practically screamed 'behave you two'. In that moment, as Hobbes continued to give them his very unusually human-like chaperone stare, Calvin and Susan gave each other a half nervous and half confused look. In that moment, they couldn't help but wonder just how smart and intelligent Hobbes actually was. And considering just how knowledgeable Calvin was about all manner of things animal related, the fact that even he wasn't sure what to think on Hobbes's unusual apparent high intelligence spoke volumes of just how big of a mystery Hobbes sometimes showed himself to be.

Calvin shook his head. "There's no need to worry," he thought to himself. "So what if he's a little overly smart compared to the average dog? All that matters to me is that he's my friend, and that he does his job well." He smiled. "Shall we go in?"

Susan smiled, and nodded her head. "Gladly."

Calvin got up from the bench, the two kids locked hands, and they happily entered the gym with a now once again happily panting Hobbes following close behind them.

. . . . .

Diana Eberhart had never felt more excited, yet at the same time nervous, then she did now. She clasped her hands together, green eyes agleam as she thought of the momentous occasion that she was about to undergo. She looked carefully around the area she was in, which happened to be right nearby the middle school parking lot, still thinking carefully about what was soon to come. She'd had plenty of experience with acting over the course of her time in elementary and middle school. But this would be the first time that she'd be singing solo in front of an audience. The closest she'd ever come to that before now was singing in the chorus or as part of an ensemble number. However, she hoped someday in the future to be able to sing show stoppers in major lead roles, much like her idol; the big-name Broadway actress Rachel Berry. And now, with the talent show she was soon to perform in, she finally had her chance to finally get herself firmly on the road to achieving this goal.

She took a deep breath, and exhaled in content. She opened her eyes, a mixture of confidence and just barely hidden lingering nerves in them, and rubbed her fingers through her hair. "This is it," she thought to herself. "My first big break. Oh God, I hope I don't mess this up."

"I see you've finished your little talk with Susan."

Diana turned her head to look behind her, blonde hair flying, and smiled at the sight of none other than Daniel Taymor, one of her two closest childhood friends. "Indeed I have."

Daniel chuckled, rolling his gray eyes in mock annoyance. He walked up to Diana. "That's good." He came to a stop right next to the girl. "So. Ready to perform?"

Diana took a deep breath, and exhaled. "I certainly hope so."

Daniel placed his hand on the girl's shoulder. "Don't worry. I know exactly how well you can sing. And I've been there to watch you practice your heart out for so many events, including this one. Trust me, you'll blow this show clear out of the park."

Diana chuckled nervously. "If you say so."

Daniel chuckled. "Come on, let's take a little walk. I'm sure a nice walk around the area between close friends oughta get your spirit burning nice and bright."

Diana giggled. "You can say that again."

The two friends turned and started walking down the sidewalk in the direction of the gym, so close to each other side by side that it was a miracle that their hands didn't at all make contact. After a few minutes of walking in companionable silence, Daniel finally chose to speak. "Sure is exciting huh? What we're about to do today?"

Diana giggled, and directed her smiling face at Daniel. "Oh you have no idea."

"Oh really?" Daniel chuckled. "Well I beg to differ."

Diana giggled again, and shook her head side to side playfully. She sighed. "It just seems so surreal. I mean, I've been dreaming about becoming a Broadway actress of the same caliber as Rachel Berry since I was six. And now, on the verge of finally having my first solo performance period? It's not even in a play, and already I feel so nervous and excited." She shook her head once more. "Not to mention it still seems so unreal."

"I totally get what you mean." Daniel nodded his head, his gray eyes showing clear understanding. "To be honest, I'm still surprised that you were able to talk me into doing this. I mean, as far as I know, you're the only person I know who's _ever_ heard me sing. Heck, I'm not sure if I've ever even sung before in front of my own parents yet."

"Well hey," said Diana. "You've always talked about how much you want to be the next Finn Hudson." She pointed in the direction she and Daniel were walking. "And if he could let out that song he had in his heart, then so can you."

"Fair point I guess."

For a good few minutes longer, the two friends continued their peaceful quiet walk back to the gym. After a while, they finally saw the gym becoming noticeably closer in distance to them. They looked each other in the eyes. "You ready?" asked Daniel.

Diana smiled. "I think so."

"That's good." Daniel placed his hand on Diana's shoulder. "Because you, are going to rock this talent show clean out of the park." Diana let a small blush come on her face at the contact and praise. Daniel lifted his hand away. "Come on, I'll race you to the gym."

"Sounds like a plan," said Diana. In a flash, with neither of the two giving any form of signal, and in complete unison, began to run like mad down the remainder of the distance between them and the gym, now ready and more excited than ever for the talent show that they'd soon be performing in.

. . . . .

Emma took a deep breath, and then exhaled, trying her best to keep herself calm and avoid either freaking out from nerves or giving in to her still rising urge to start checking around for impurities or similar OCD behavioral triggers. As of that moment, the talent show would be starting in 5 minutes, and the gym was jam packed. She mentally shuddered. Only now did she realize how much she was used to having Will and their two sons with her for watching the talent show.

She tried her best to stay calm. "Easy now," she thought to herself. "Don't panic, stay calm, everything will be fine. You can do this." She waited patiently, her inner struggle becoming increasingly more difficult to handle as she listened to all the noise being made by the eagerly talking people who made up the majority of the audience. Even in spite of all the stressful elements, she tried her absolute hardest to avoid losing her cool. "Just be patient," she told herself mentally. "You can do this. You've watched this talent show plenty of times before now alongside Will and the boys. You will not let the fact that you're on your own allow your family to miss out on the talent show this year." She let a small smile come on her face. "And besides," she mentally continued. "Just think of how proud Will would be if I managed to find some potential new talent for him to add to the New Directions in the future."

She nodded her head, her mind firmly made up. "Yes," she thought to herself. "I am going to make it through this. I am going to make it through this. I am going to make it through this. I will not let Will and my boys down just because I'm attending this talent show without them this year and can't handle the stress. Keep it together. My family greatly depends on it."

Emma took a deep breath, and then exhaled. "Any moment now," she thought to herself. "The show should begin sooner or later." She checked her watch. In all her current bouts with her little mental struggle, only 2 minutes had passed. "Not too much longer now," she thought to herself optimistically. "Not too much longer."

. . . . .

After what seemed like an eternity to the increasingly nerve wracked Emma, a man that she clearly recognized as the principal walked up towards the podium that had been set up in front of the makeshift stage. Upon sight of the principal taking position at the podium, Emma directed all her attention straight towards him. The rest of the audience, likewise directed their attention towards the man. The audience members who seemed especially focused on him, however, were the various teens, pre-teens, and elementary school aged children that were gathered in the seats at the very front of the seating areas. And that was perfectly reasonable, as they were the performers.

"Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen," said the principal. "At this time, as I'm sure you are all aware, today is the day we will be hosting our annual summer local talent show." The audience cheered loudly in response, much to the principal's delight.

The audience finally quieted back down sufficiently enough for him to continue. "Now as you've almost certainly noticed, this year's talent show is taking place much earlier than usual. And for those who've been with us in the past who have proven unable to be present this time as a result, we apologize in advance." The audience members laughed, with the ones related to any of the no-shows in question quietly making note of the apology to be relayed to said relatives.

The principal spread his hands out sideways. "But enough of that," he said. "You didn't come here for anything dreary. You came here to have fun and be entertained, am I right?"

Several assorted audience members managed to very quietly and weakly say yes.

The principal chuckled. "Come now, you can do better than that. I said you came here to have fun and be entertained, am I right?"

"Yes!" the audience shouted.

"I said am I right?"

"Yes!"

"Am I right?!"

"YES!"

"That's right! Now we're talking!"

The audience started laughing again. The principal chuckled, managed to restore order amongst the audience, and then he nodded his head. "And with that out of the way, let us begin the talent show, shall we?" The audience cheered exuberantly in response, clearly ready for the show to begin.

"Excellent," said the principal. He nodded his head, and then gestured towards a small portion of the front most seats in the performer reserved areas of the audience seating area. "And now, let us begin this year's fabulous collection of local talent with the stunning performance to be offered by our own newly graduated Cody Nakamura and Bailey Kellogg as well as by their friend, and our own alumnus from just last year, Raj Patel!"

The audience roared in approval and anticipation. Emma leaned forward as far as she could, trying to get a good look at the three performers in question as they got up from their seats and made their way up onto the stage. As this happened, the principal moved away from the podium and back at his designated seat in an area off to the side of where the audience was seated, only pausing long enough to hand out two spare microphones from the podium to the three performers. And as the three kids came to a stop at the very center of the stage, Emma was finally able to get a good look at them, and she carefully made note of how they looked, memorizing them as best as she could so that she'd remember them in the event that they proved worthy of her telling Will about them. In that moment, she mentally cursed as she realized that she'd forgotten to grab a program paper for the talent show, and would very likely be in a bit of a fix in trying to remember all the performers and differentiating the ones she would need to tell Will about and the ones who he could afford not to know about.

The girl, whom Emma deduced to be Bailey, picked up the microphone from the stand in front of her. Emma listened carefully, as did the rest of the audience. Bailey smiled. "Hello everyone. I am Bailey Kellogg, and these are my friends, Cody Nakamura and Raj Patel."

"Hi everyone," said Raj.

"Annyeong haseyo," said Cody, a cheeky grin on his face. The audience laughed.

Bailey rolled her eyes. "Today, we begin your entertainment for this year's local talent show with our spectacular trio performance of _Maps_ by Maroon 5. Sound fun?"

The audience cheered.

"I think that's a yes," said Raj.

"Let's not keep them waiting then," said Cody.

"Indeed let us not," said Bailey. "Hit it boys," she said with a snap of her fingers. A nearby stagehand, having been tasked with having instrumental tunes for all the songs to be sung at the talent show this year listed on the program, accessed the tune they needed, gave them a thumbs up to signal that he was ready, and then pressed play.

Within seconds, Emma found herself blown away, and completely forgot about her earlier apparent dilemma as she listened to the performance that unfolded complete with all three kids singing and Cody pulling off some spectacular dance moves every now and then. The performance in question went something like this:

 _(Bailey)_

 _I miss the taste of a sweeter life  
I miss the conversation  
I'm searching for a song tonight  
I'm changing all of the stations  
(Cody)  
I like to think that we had it all  
We drew a map to a better place  
But on that road I took a fall  
Oh baby why did you run away?  
(All)  
I was there for you  
In your darkest times  
I was there for you  
In your darkest nights  
But I wonder where were you?  
When I was at my worst  
Down on my knees  
And you said you had my back  
So I wonder where were you?  
When all the roads you took came back to me  
So I'm following the map that leads to you  
The map that leads to you  
Ain't nothing I can do  
The map that leads to you  
Following, following, following to you  
The map that leads to you  
Ain't nothing I can do  
The map that leads to you  
Following, following, following  
(Raj)  
I hear your voice in my sleep at night  
Hard to resist temptation  
'Cause something strange has come over me  
And now I can't get over you  
No, I just can't get over you  
(All)  
I was there for you  
In your darkest times  
I was there for you  
In your darkest nights  
But I wonder where were you?  
When I was at my worst  
Down on my knees  
And you said you had my back  
So I wonder where were you?  
When all the roads you took came back to me  
So I'm following the map that leads to you  
The map that leads to you  
Ain't nothing I can do  
The map that leads to you  
Following, following, following to you  
The map that leads to you  
Ain't nothing I can do  
The map that leads to you  
(Cody)  
Oh oh oh_

 _(Bailey)  
Oh oh oh_

 _(Raj)  
Yeah yeah yeah  
(Bailey)_

 _Oh oh oh  
(All)  
Oh, I was there for you  
Oh, in your darkest time  
Oh, I was there for you  
Oh, in your darkest nights  
Oh, I was there for you  
Oh, in your darkest time  
Oh, I was there for you  
Oh, in your darkest nights  
But I wonder where were you?  
When I was at my worst  
Down on my knees  
And you said you had my back  
So I wonder where were you?  
When all the roads you took came back to me  
So I'm following the map that leads to you  
The map that leads to you  
Ain't nothing I can do  
The map that leads to you  
Following, following, following to you  
The map that leads to you  
Ain't nothing I can do  
The map that leads to you  
Following, following, following_

For what seemed like an eternity, dead silence followed the performance. As they waited, all three of the young performers found themselves on the verge of sweating as they became increasingly nervous about what was taking so long for the audience to react. Then the audience roared in applause, with Emma herself very belatedly joining in (and of course getting drowned out by everyone else). The three young performers smiled, Cody with a nervous tint to his smile, Raj with a warm glow on his face, and Bailey with a 'now that's more like it' look on her face. The trio bowed, waved to the audience one more time, and then departed from the stage and back to their seats.

The principal walked on over back to the podium, clearly in a good mood. He tapped the microphone at the podium, and the audience eventually managed to calm down. "Now weren't they just wonderful?!" The audience roared in approval once more. Emma smiled nervously, and was only happy to snatch up a program paper that she soon noticed conveniently lying around on the floor near her feet. She sighed in relief upon opening it, now knowing that she'd have no trouble in her current self assigned task. Particularly since now, she knew for a fact that she'd have to sit through three acts that didn't involve any singing before the next one to include performers that could potentially be added to the ranks of her husband's club in the future. And she could already tell just from listening to that one performance by the trio that had just finished that she was already off to a good start at finding potential future members for her husband to add to the New Directions' roster.

. . . . .

"Coming up next," said the principal. "Let's give a warm welcome to the stage to our own local current students, Naomi Bright and Amber Lawson!"

The audience cheered in anticipation at this newest act as the two girls got up from their seat and took their places on stage, Naomi needing a little assistance every now and then from Amber to successfully make her way to where they needed to go.

As Emma watched, she silently gasped, and felt a small twinge of pity and sympathy upon noticing how the redhead amongst the pair was using a cane and needed help from her blonde companion to reach their destination. "The poor child," she thought to herself. "She must be blind." In that moment, she found herself praying that the two girls would prove themselves worthy of potentially being worthy of joining the New Directions in the future. The way she saw it, the blind girl at the very least deserved a chance at it.

The two girls reached the microphones, and they each picked up a mic for them to use. "Hello there," said the blonde. "I'm Amber Lawson, and this is my friend, Naomi Bright." She looked over at the redhead. "Say hello Naomi."

Naomi nervously lifted her left hand, incidentally lifting her cane with it, and nervously waved. "Hi," she managed to say.

Amber chuckled. "Don't mind that," she said good-naturedly. "She gets nervous around strangers and large audiences. But hey, if you were in her shoes, you really couldn't blame her."

"No I could not," Emma thought to herself.

"But anyway," Amber continued. "Today, Naomi and I are going to treat you lot to a fantastic performance of _Shake It Off_ by Taylor Swift." The audience let out noises of approval, and Amber grinned. "Let's get to it now, shall we?" She looked over at the waiting stagehand and nodded her head, silently mouthing 'hit it'. The stagehand obliged, and the performance that followed went like this:

 _(Amber)_

 _I stay out too late  
Got nothing in my brain  
That's what people say, mmm-mmm  
That's what people say, mmm-mmm  
I go on too many dates [chuckle]  
But I can't make them stay  
At least that's what people say, mmm-mmm  
That's what people say, mmm-mmm  
(Both)  
But I keep cruising  
Can't stop, won't stop moving  
It's like I got this music  
In my mind  
Saying, "It's gonna be alright."  
'Cause the players gonna play, play, play, play, play  
And the haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate  
Baby, I'm just gonna shake, shake, shake, shake, shake  
I shake it off, I shake it off  
Heart-breakers gonna break, break, break, break, break  
And the fakers gonna fake, fake, fake, fake, fake  
Baby, I'm just gonna shake, shake, shake, shake, shake  
I shake it off, I shake it off  
(Naomi)  
I never miss a beat  
I'm lightning on my feet  
And that's what they don't see, mmm-mmm  
That's what they don't see, mmm-mmm  
I'm dancing on my own (Amber: dancing on my own)  
I make the moves up as I go (Amber: moves up as I go)  
And that's what they don't know, mmm-mmm  
That's what they don't know, mmm-mmm  
(Both)  
But I keep cruising  
Can't stop, won't stop grooving  
It's like I got this music  
In my mind  
Saying, "It's gonna be alright."  
'Cause the players gonna play, play, play, play, play  
And the haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate  
Baby, I'm just gonna shake, shake, shake, shake, shake  
I shake it off, I shake it off  
Heart-breakers gonna break, break, break, break, break  
And the fakers gonna fake, fake, fake, fake, fake  
Baby, I'm just gonna shake, shake, shake, shake, shake  
I shake it off, I shake it off  
Shake it off, I shake it off,  
I, I, I shake it off, I shake it off,  
I, I, I shake it off, I shake it off,  
I, I, I shake it off, I shake it off  
(Amber)  
Hey, hey, hey  
Just think while you've been getting down and out about the liars and the dirty, dirty cheats of the world,  
You could've been getting down to this sick beat.  
(Both)  
My ex-man brought his new girlfriend  
She's like "Oh, my god!" but I'm just gonna shake.  
And to the fella over there with the hella good hair  
Won't you come on over, baby? We can shake, shake, shake  
(Naomi)  
Yeah ohhh  
(Both)  
'Cause the players gonna play, play, play, play, play  
And the haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate (Naomi: haters gonna hate)  
I'm just gonna shake, shake, shake, shake, shake  
I shake it off, I shake it off  
Heart-breakers gonna break, break, break, break, break (Amber: mmmm)  
And the fakers gonna fake, fake, fake, fake, fake (Amber: and fake, and fake, and fake)  
Baby, I'm just gonna shake, shake, shake, shake, shake  
I shake it off, I shake it off  
Shake it off, I shake it off,  
I, I, I shake it off, I shake it off,  
I, I, I shake it off, I shake it off  
I, I, I shake it off, I shake it off  
Shake it off, I shake it off,  
I, I, I shake it off, I shake it off,  
I, I, I shake it off, I shake it off,  
I, I, I shake it off, I shake it off  
Shake it off, I shake it off,  
I, I, I shake it off, I shake it off (Amber: you've got to),  
I, I, I shake it off, I shake it off,  
I, I, I shake it off, I shake it off_

The audience didn't take nearly as long to applaud this time after the performance was over, and the two girls couldn't have looked happier as they both bowed to the audience, Naomi doing so with a reasonable amount of difficulty to be expected from her blindness. Emma was especially happy as she clapped and applauded for the two girls. She already knew right that moment that both the blind girl and her companion had more than earned the right to have a good word put in for them for her husband. The two girls waved at the audience one last time, and then departed the stage to return to their seats.

The principal returned to the podium. "Next up, local student Dunlap Carmichael and his partner Darren McCrimmon!"

The audience applauded once more as the two boys in question got up from their seats and made their way on stage. Emma briefly faltered in her applause when she got a good look at Dunlap. She would not lie. She had definitely gotten thrown for a loop at the sight of the boy's metallic legs as well as the abnormally pale skin and white hair that allowed him to be very clearly identified as an albino. She winced, and shook her head side to side to clear her thoughts. "Don't be rude," she thought to herself.

The two boys turned around to face the audience after reaching the necessary position, and Emma found her eyes widening involuntarily once again at the sight of their eyes. The albino boy's eyes, she had to admit, were almost nightmare inducing. She had seen multiple pictures of albinos and how their eyes looked. But even then, she'd never expected to see one with eyes the exact same shade of red as the one that this boy's eyes were colored. And as for the ginger haired boy, she shuddered. "Those have got to be contacts," she thought to herself. "No human being has yellow eyes period, let alone the shade of yellow that this boy's eyes seem to be."

The albino boy tapped his microphone. "Good afternoon. I am Dunlap Carmichael."

"And I'm Darren McCrimmon," the redhead chimed in.

"And today, we'll be entertaining you with a performance of MKTO's _Classic_." Upon finishing this statement, Dunlap nodded at Darren, who looked over at two other young boys standing nearby a guitar and set of drums. The performance that ensued went something like this:

 _(Darren)_

 _Hey! Where's the drums?  
(Drummer starts playing, and then the guitarist begins)_

 _(Dunlap)  
Oh whoa-oh-oh-oh  
(Darren)  
Let's go!  
(Dunlap)  
Ooh girl you're shining  
Like a 5th avenue diamond  
And they don't make you like they used to  
You're never going out of style  
Ooh pretty baby  
This world might've gone crazy  
The way you save me  
Who can blame me  
When I just wanna make you smile?  
(Both)  
I wanna thrill you like Michael  
I wanna kiss you like Prince  
Let's get it on like Marvin Gaye  
Like Hathaway  
Write a song for you like this  
You're over my head  
I'm out of my mind  
Thinking I was born in the wrong time  
One of a kind, living in a world gone plastic  
Baby you're so classic  
Baby you're so classic  
(Dunlap)_

 _Baby you,_

 _(Both)  
Baby you're so classic  
(Darren)  
Four dozen roses  
Anything for you to notice  
All the way to serenade you  
Doing it Sinatra style  
(Both)  
I'm a pick you up in a Cadillac  
Like a gentleman bringin' glamour back  
Keep it reel to reel in the way I feel  
I could walk you down the aisle  
I wanna thrill you like Michael  
I wanna kiss you like Prince  
Let's get it on like Marvin Gaye  
Like Hathaway  
Write a song for you like this  
You're over my head  
I'm out of my mind  
Thinking I was born in the wrong time  
It's love on rewind,  
Everything is so throwback-ish (I kinda like it, like it)  
Out of my league  
Old school chic  
Like a movie star  
From the silver screen  
You're one of a kind living in a world gone plastic  
Baby you're so classic  
Baby you're so classic  
Baby you're so classic  
(Darren)  
Baby you're class and baby you're sick  
I never met a girl like you ever 'till we met  
A star in the 40s, centerfold in the 50s  
Got me tripping out like the sixties  
Hippies, Queen of the discotheque  
A 70s dream and an 80s best  
Hepburn, Beyoncé, Marilyn, Massive  
Girl you're timeless, just so classic  
You're over my head I'm out of my mind  
Thinking I was born in the wrong time  
It's love on rewind,  
Everything is so throwback-ish (I kinda like it, like it)  
Out of my league  
Old school chic  
Like a movie star  
From the silver screen  
You're one of a kind living in a world gone plastic  
Baby you're so classic  
Whoa oh oh (Yeah, yeah)  
Baby you're so classic (Yeah, yeah)  
Yeah  
Baby you're so classic  
Uuuuuuh uh uh_

The applause that followed the performance was almost instantaneous, and the two boys smiled, bowed to the audience, and then hurriedly returned to their seats. The principal came back to the podium once more. "Doesn't he get tired of always moving back and forth?" Emma wondered to herself.

"And now, for our next performance!"

. . . . .

After sitting through another 7 acts, 3 of which involved painfully terrible singing, Emma finally caught another source of potential at the 14th act for the show. "And now I proudly present our own newly graduated Charlotte Thornton, Silena Townsend, and Ashley Manning!"

At the sound of this announcement from the principal, three girls stood up from their seats and made their way on stage. Emma watched them closely, half in anticipation for seeing how well they'd be as singers but also half suspicious. She had no idea why, but something told her in her mind that she'd be wise to be somewhat wary in their regard. The blonde in the center of the trio seemed to give off this vibe especially strongly. The brunette now standing to the right seemed to have a similar aura around her. The other blonde on the left, however, Emma had a feeling that she was not necessarily quite as bad as her two companions seemed to potentially be.

The blonde girl standing in the center of the trio lifted her microphone higher, wide smile on her face. "Hello, I'm Charlotte Thornton." She gestured towards the two other girls standing beside her. "These are my friends Silena Townsend, and Ashley Manning. And today we'll be treating you to a fabulous performance of Taylor Swift's _Blank Space_." Without even waiting for the resulting applause to finish, Charlotte turned her head and very hurriedly signaled for the stagehand with the IPod to 'hit it'. Justifiably aggrieved by Charlotte's rather impatient attitude towards, it took the stagehand until the audience finally finished their anticipatory applause to finally find the appropriate instrumental tune. And when he did, he almost spitefully signaled that he was ready and pressed play. The three girls, seemingly not noticing or caring about the stagehand's irritation, smiled upon hearing the music for their chosen song begin; and when the time for singing finally came, the resulting performance went like this:

 _(Silena and Ashley)_

 _Nice to meet you, where you been?_

 _(Charlotte)  
I could show you incredible things_

 _(Silena and Ashley)  
Magic, madness, heaven, sin_

 _(Charlotte)  
Saw you there and I thought  
Oh my God, look at that face  
You look like my next mistake  
Love's a game, wanna play?  
(Silena and Ashley)  
New money, suit and tie_

 _(Charlotte)  
I can read you like a magazine_

 _(Silena and Ashley)  
Ain't it funny, rumors fly_

 _(Charlotte)  
And I know you heard about me  
So hey, let's be friends  
I'm dying to see how this one ends  
Grab your passport and my hand  
I can make the bad guys good for a weekend  
(All)  
So it's gonna be forever  
Or it's gonna go down in flames  
You can tell me when it's over  
If the high was worth the pain  
Got a long list of ex-lovers  
They'll tell you I'm insane  
'Cause you know I love the players  
And you love the game  
'Cause we're young and we're reckless  
We'll take this way too far  
It'll leave you breathless  
Or with a nasty scar  
Got a long list of ex-lovers  
They'll tell you I'm insane  
But I've got a blank space, baby  
And I'll write your name  
(Silena and Ashley)  
Cherry lips, crystal skies_

 _(Charlotte)  
I could show you incredible things  
(Silena and Ashley)_

 _Stolen kisses, pretty lies  
(Charlotte)_

 _You're the King, baby, I'm your Queen  
Find out what you want  
Be that girl for a month  
Wait, the worst is yet to come, oh no  
(Silena and Ashley)  
Screaming, crying, perfect storms  
(Charlotte)_

 _I can make all the tables turn_

 _(Silena and Ashley)  
Rose garden filled with thorns  
(Charlotte)_

 _Keep you second guessing like  
"Oh my God, who is she?"  
I get drunk on jealousy  
But you'll come back each time you leave  
'Cause, darling, I'm a nightmare dressed like a daydream  
(All)  
So it's gonna be forever  
Or it's gonna go down in flames  
You can tell me when it's over  
If the high was worth the pain  
Got a long list of ex-lovers  
They'll tell you I'm insane  
'Cause you know I love the players  
And you love the game  
'Cause we're young and we're reckless (Silena: Oh)  
We'll take this way too far  
It'll leave you breathless  
Or with a nasty scar  
Got a long list of ex-lovers  
They'll tell you I'm insane  
But I've got a blank space, baby  
And I'll write your name  
(Charlotte)  
Boys only want love if it's torture  
(All)_

 _Don't say I didn't say, I didn't warn ya_

 _Boys only want love if it's torture  
Don't say I didn't say, I didn't warn ya (Ashley: Say I didn't warn ya!)  
So it's gonna be forever  
Or it's gonna go down in flames  
You can tell me when it's over (Silena: over)  
If the high was worth the pain  
Got a long list of ex-lovers  
They'll tell you I'm insane  
'Cause you know I love the players  
And you love the game (Ashley: game!)  
'Cause we're young and we're reckless (Ashley: Eh he!)  
We'll take this way too far (Ashley: Oh!)  
It'll leave you breathless  
Or with a nasty scar (Silena: with a nasty scar!)  
Got a long list of ex-lovers  
They'll tell you I'm insane  
(Charlotte)_

 _But I've got a blank space, baby  
And I'll write your name_

It took several minutes at first for any applause to begin. Maybe it was because the audience had managed to get the same vibe from them that Emma had, or maybe they were all just genuinely surprised to have been treated to an actually bearable singing performance after the three earache inducing disasters that had unfolded over the course of the previous 7 acts. But nonetheless, dead silence was all that greeted the performance at first. Then, as one, three boys stood up in unison and started clapping. Two of the boys, both white, one of them a blonde and the other dark haired, were amongst the non-performing members of the audience. The third, an African American, was amongst the performers. Seconds after these three boys started clapping, the rest of the audience eventually followed their example, though some clapped noticeably less enthusiastically than others.

Charlotte and Silena didn't notice the varying difference in joy amongst the audience members, merely curtseying with smug smiles on their faces as if silently saying, "Now that's more like it." Ashley, meanwhile, had a nervous smile on her own face as she noticed what her two friends were quite glaringly failing to notice and felt relieved that Donovan at least had been one of the first amongst the audience to applaud for her. After a good few minutes of basking in their glory and absorbing the applause heading their way, Charlotte and Silena confidently strutted off the stage and back to their seats, making sure to toss their hair side to side thrice before they even reached the stairs. Ashley, meanwhile was all too eager to get off the stage and sit back down.

The principal returned to his spot at the podium yet again. "Wasn't that wonderful everyone?" He cleared his throat. "Alright people. Now, coming up next, we have another one of our newest graduates, Zackary Skinner!"

During the noticeably in unison anticipatory applause that ensued following the announcement, an African American boy stood up from his seat and started walking over to take his position on the stage. Emma focused intently on the boy, recognizing him as the same black boy who'd been amongst the first three audience members to start applauding for the performance that had unfolded directly before.

The boy took his place at the microphone, picked it up, and lifted it to his face with a charismatic smile on his face. He cleared his throat and prepared to speak, though Emma noticed that his eyes seemed to glance surreptitiously in Charlotte's direction throughout the entire time he spoke. "Good afternoon people," said the boy. "I am Zach Skinner. And today, I shall be entertaining you with _My Sweet Summer_ by The Dirty Heads."

The audience oohed and awed at the sound of the announcement. Zach smiled, very noticeably waited for the audience to quiet back down, and _then_ signaled for the IPod handling stagehand to do his thing. Unlike for the previous act, the stagehand was all too happy to oblige. The very enjoyable performance that ensued consisting of Zach's voice, and with unexpected accompanying vocalizations at appropriate points from two other boys amongst the performance who hadn't yet gone up, went like this:

 _My Sweet Summer is gone,  
She left me here  
With sand in my bed,  
She played me all night long.  
But I'd do it all over again, Oohh  
My Sweet Summer is gone  
And on my mirror, she made it clear,  
Her Lipstick can't be wrong  
My summer, summer, my sweet summer is gone.  
(Beat break)_

 _My Sweet Summer is gone._

 _(Beat break cont.)  
Warm was the weather outside the day we met  
Blue was the color of skies the day she left.  
Short was the time we had, it was the best.  
'Cause long were the nights we spent with no rest. (Daniel: long were the nights we spent with no rest)  
I met her on a Friday, she left on a Monday,  
Wrote me a letter said she hoped to see me someday.  
We had a good time, I can't deny that.  
You can be my sunshine every time you fly back.  
Cause there's another one you're loving, and  
I hate to see you go.  
My Sweet Summer is gone,  
She left me here  
With sand in my bed,  
She played me all night long.  
But I'd do it all over again, Oohh  
My Sweet Summer is gone (Daniel: my sweet summer is gone)  
And on my mirror, she made it clear,  
Her Lipstick can't be wrong  
My summer, summer, my sweet summer is gone.  
(Beat break)_

 _(Daniel: yeah)  
My Sweet Summer is gone.  
(Beat break cont.)_

 _(Calvin: ooh, ooh, ooh)_

 _(Daniel: yeah)  
Yeah she left in the morning, gone without warning. (Daniel and Calvin: gone without warning)  
Fun while it lasted, lost in the moment. (Daniel and Calvin: lost in the moment)  
She played me real good, took me for a ride,  
Now she's off on an airplane, back to real life (Daniel and Calvin: back to real life).  
Yeah she dipped out,  
Smoked all my weed then she flipped out.  
Left in my slumber, waited 'til I passed out.  
And on my dresser was a paper and her number,  
I filled up with grass and I burned it, for summer.  
Cause there's another one you're loving, and  
I hate to see you go. (Calvin: hate to see you go)  
My Sweet Summer is gone,  
She left me here  
With sand in my bed,  
She played me all night long.  
But I'd do it all over again, Oohh  
My Sweet Summer is gone (Daniel: my sweet summer is gone)  
And on my mirror, she made it clear,  
Her Lipstick can't be wrong  
My summer, summer, my sweet summer is gone.  
(Beat break)  
(Daniel: yeah)_

 _My Sweet Summer is gone. (Calvin: ooh, ooh, ooh)  
(Beat break cont.)_

 _(Daniel: ooh, ooh, ooh)_

 _Left like a midnight thief._

 _(Calvin: ooh, ooh, ooh)  
You ain't no friend to me._

 _(Daniel and Calvin: ooh, ooh, ooh)  
How could you lead me on?_

 _(Daniel and Calvin: ooh, ooh, ooh)  
Now my sweet summer is gone.  
(Beat break)  
(Daniel: yeah)_

 _My Sweet Summer is gone.  
Now my Sweet Summer is gone.  
(Calvin: ooh, ooh, ooh)_

 _My Sweet Summer is gone._

 _(Daniel: ooh, yeah, ooh)  
Now my Sweet Summer is gone._

The applause that followed came mere seconds after the performance was over, with the two boys who'd unexpectedly provided accompaniment being the first two members to start applauding. Zach smiled at the applauding audience, waved, blew a kiss in Charlotte's direction, and then left the stage to return to his seat after giving one last out loud thank you towards the audience.

As the applause began to wind down, Emma found herself smiling. She had to admit, the boy had put on quite a pleasant show for her and the other audience members. And now that she thought about it, from what she'd noticed about the dynamic between the three girls who'd performed before him, she now had a feeling that, despite her unnerving aura, Charlotte actually seemed to have potential for perhaps being worthy of membership in her husband's club just as much as Zach did. "That makes 9 potential future members for Will to work his magic with," she thought to herself. She looked over the program. There were now 11 acts left. She silently whistled. "Hopefully, there will be at least another 3 amongst the remaining acts, just in case."

. . . . .

Seven acts later, Emma finally got yet another taste of potential worthy talent for Will to consider in the future. The act in question came immediately after the principal's, "At this time, let us welcome the next of our talented newest graduates, Susan Caraway!"

As the audience applauded with anticipation in response, Emma noticed a young girl with black hair and skin that seemed like a reasonable mixture between fair and tanned get up from her seat in the performers' section and take her place on the stage. As the girl prepared herself, Emma watched intently. She knew from reading the program she'd been lucky enough to get ahold of that this girl, as well as the three children who'd be performing after her, would be singing. Now the question was, would any of these four remaining performers prove themselves worthy of being considered for future membership amongst the New Directions?

The girl on stage lifted the microphone to her mouth. "Good afternoon, I am Susan Caraway." She took a deep breath, and then exhaled. "Today I'll be singing _The Heart Wants What It Wants_ by Selena Gomez." The audience very audibly oohed and awed at the sound of these words, much to Susan's silent delight. She nodded her head, looked over at the stagehand, and silently mouthed 'Hit it'. The stagehand nodded, and calmly obliged. Within mere seconds after the stagehand started the appropriate instrumental tune on his IPod, the audience was treated to a truly beautiful performance. The performance in question went something like this:

 _You got me sippin' on something  
I can't compare to nothing  
I've ever known, I'm hoping  
That after this fever I'll survive  
I know I'm acting a bit crazy  
Strung out, a little bit hazy  
Hand over heart, I'm praying  
That I'm gonna make it out alive  
The bed's getting cold and you're not here  
The future that we hold is so unclear  
But I'm not alive until you call  
And I'll bet the odds against it all  
Save your advice 'cause I won't hear  
You might be right but I don't care  
There's a million reasons why I should give you up  
But the heart wants what it wants  
The heart wants what it wants  
You got me scattered in pieces  
Shining like stars and screaming  
Lighting me up like Venus  
But then you disappear and make me wait  
And every second's like torture  
Heroin drip, no more so  
Finding a way to let go  
Baby, baby, no, I can't escape  
The bed's getting cold and you're not here  
The future that we hold is so unclear  
But I'm not alive until you call  
And I'll bet the odds against it all  
Save your advice 'cause I won't hear  
You might be right but I don't care  
There's a million reasons why I should give you up  
But the heart wants what it wants  
The heart wants what it wants  
The heart wants what it wants  
The heart wants what it wants  
This is a modern fairytale  
No happy endings  
No wind in our sails  
But I can't imagine a life without  
Breathless moments  
Breaking me down, down, down, down  
The bed's getting cold and you're not here  
The future that we hold is so unclear  
But I'm not alive until you call  
And I'll bet the odds against it all  
Save your advice 'cause I won't hear  
You might be right but I don't care  
There's a million reasons why I should give you up  
But the heart wants what it wants  
The heart wants what it wants  
The heart wants what it wants  
The heart wants what it wants  
The heart wants what it wants, baby  
It wants what it wants, baby  
It wants what it wants  
It wants what it wants_

 _The heart wants what it wants_

For what seemed like an eternity, dead silence hung in the air, the entirety of the audience too stunned and touched by the sheer beauty of the performance. Then, after what felt like a very cruelly long eternity, a single blonde boy amongst the performers, whom Emma was quite certain had not yet performed, stood straight up on top of his seat and started clapping. Susan smiled in a mixture of relief and joy at the sight of the boy clapping; but then that same boy turned out to be the only one clapping for about one or two minutes straight.

The boy soon noticed, and he stopped clapping. He remained standing up straight on the top of his chair, hung his hands down by his sides, and shook his head side, an irritated 'really?' look on his face. He turned around to his left, glare still on his face, then he leaned over in that direction, his head and upper body bridging the empty chair that Susan had been sitting in so that he could directly face the side of Zach's head. Seconds later, right as Zach finally noticed the other boy's position and turned his head to face him, the boy started very loudly, rapidly, and emphatically smacking his hands together right in front of the poor African American's face. The entire rest of the audience was quite stunned, but before any of them had a chance to react, the boy in question yelled, "Come on! What do you think this is? A funeral?! Don't keep the poor girl waiting you fools! Clap you idiots! Clap! Clap! Clap!"

It took all of two seconds for the rest of the audience to get the message, and they all hurriedly started clapping and cheering just as enthusiastically as the boy who'd just now given them a very humiliating reminder of how that was what they were supposed to be doing. And the applause, despite the less than dignity friendly means in which it had been triggered, was 100% genuine on all accounts. Susan smiled warmly in a mixture of relief and joy at what the boy had done for her. She was just barely able to keep herself from crying tears of joy as she gave the audience a grateful bow, waved at them, and managed to stutter out a thank you before leaving the stage and returning to her seat between the blonde good Samaritan and the still quite sheepish African American that had fallen directly to the mercy of the other boy's shame inducing tactics.

When everyone in the audience was all back in order, the principal came back to his position at the podium. "Ok then. I'm glad we all enjoyed that absolutely lovely performance." He cleared his throat, still feeling somewhat guilty himself at having been so late in his applause. "Next up, we have yet another one of our newest graduates, Calvin Martenson!"

The very same boy that had given the audience a very firm and vocal push in the right direction in regards to applauding for Susan got up from his seat and made his way over to his position for the performance, a small country style guitar slung under his right arm. Emma watched him intently as he made his way over, and soon found her eyes widening in surprise when she saw the head of a very real German shepherd seem to suddenly materialize out of nowhere from above the heads of the audience member in front of her and right behind the boy, the rest of its body coming into view very soon afterward as the boy and the dog walked up the steps and onto the stage. Even as the boy and the dog came to a stop at the microphone, Emma was still somewhat in a state of shock. She had legitimately not had any idea at all that the dog had even been in the gym at all until literally right that moment. Judging by the looks and reactions from many of the other audience members that had entered the gym during the later segments of the time spent waiting for the show to begin, she wasn't the only one that had gotten surprised by the dog's presence.

The blonde boy, seemingly not at all aware of how very stunned a good-sized portion of the audience had just become by the unexpected presence of the dog, tapped on the microphone as if testing it. He looked over at the dog, smile on his face, and gently extended out his right hand, now clenched into a fist, towards the dog's face. The dog sat down, panting happily, and turned its head to face the audience. The boy looked back at the audience, excited smile still on his face, and picked up the microphone. "Good afternoon," said the boy. "I apologize for my behavior not too long ago, but really, Susan's a good friend of mine and she deserved better reception then you initially gave her far earlier then you gave it." All the audience members apart from Susan winced, and shook their heads side to side, clearly not at all enjoying the reminder.

Calvin, still smiling, cleared his throat. "But never mind that. I am Calvin Martenson." He gestured his hand at the sitting and panting dog. "This is my good buddy and canine therapy tool, Hobbes. And I will be performing _Unpack Your Heart_ by Phillip Phillips."

"Why the heck do you need your dumb dog up there with you? This isn't a dog show you dumb moron."

The audience all looked at the boy who'd shouted, the very same blonde boy who'd been among the first three to clap for Charlotte's performance. The audience looked back at Calvin. The boy was still smiling, seemingly not at all fazed by the other boy's outburst. "Let's just say, I have a very unique style of performing this song that requires his presence."

"Oh please." Silena stood up on her chair. "How the heck will the presence of some lame mutt make this song any different from performing the song without it?"

Calvin merely chuckled, though his eyes were now slightly narrowed. "Watch and learn, oh ye of zero imagination." He leaned forward, a smug wolf-like grin on his face. "Watch and learn." The tone of his words left Silena noticeably quiet, and she soon sat back down on her chair.

The principal whistled. "I don't know about you, but I daresay that sounds like a challenge." He turned his head, and spoke as loud as he could at the audience. "Well I say we let him show us what he's got!"

"Why thank you," said Calvin in response. "I will." He looked at Hobbes. "Ready boy?"

Hobbes barked once, and resumed his panting.

"Excellent."

Calvin looked down at his guitar, strummed a couple strings to make sure he had it exactly as needed. He took a deep breath, exhaled, and then started playing. The performance that ensued went like this:

 _Meet me where the sunlight ends  
Meet me where the truth never bends  
Bring all that you're scared to defend  
(Hobbes starts thumping his tail on the floor)_

 _And lay it down when you walk through my door (Hobbes: Bark! Bark! Bark!)  
Throw all of it out on the floor (Hobbes: Grr)  
Your sorrow, your beauty, your war  
I want it all (Hobbes: Grr), I want it all (Hobbes: Grr)  
Bring your secrets (Hobbes: Bark! Bark!), bring your scars (Hobbes: Grr)  
Bring your glory (Hobbes: Bark! Bark!), all you are (Hobbes: Grr)  
Bring your daylight (Hobbes: Bark! Bark!), bring your dark (Hobbes: Grr)  
Share your silence  
And unpack your heart  
Show me something the rest never see (Hobbes: Bark! Bark! Bark!)  
Give me all that you hope to receive (Hobbes: Grr)  
(Hobbes rears onto his hind legs and hops around in a circle before coming back down in a standing position on all fours)_

 _Your deepest regret dies with me  
The days when you stumble and fall (Hobbes: Bark! Bark! Bark!)  
The days when you grind to a crawl (Hobbes: Grr)  
The treasure that hides behind your walls  
I want it all (Hobbes: Grr), yeah I want it all (Hobbes: Grr)  
Bring your secrets (Hobbes: Bark! Bark!), bring your scars (Hobbes: Grr)  
Bring your glory (Hobbes: Bark! Bark!), all you are (Hobbes: Grr)  
Bring your daylight (Hobbes: Bark! Bark!), bring your dark (Hobbes: Grr)  
Share your silence  
And unpack your heart_

 _(Hobbes: Bark! Bark! Aroo!)  
Unpack your heart  
(Hobbes: Bark! Bark! Aroo!)  
Oh (Hobbes: Aroo!), I'm on your side  
So shed your shadow  
And watch it rise (Hobbes: Grr)  
Oh (Hobbes: Aroo!), I'm on your side  
So shed your shadow  
And watch it rise (Hobbes: Grr)  
Into your darkness  
I'll shine a light  
(Hobbes: Bark! Bark! Aroo!)_

 _(Hobbes: Bark! Bark! Aroo!)_

 _(Hobbes: Bark! Bark! Aroo!)_

 _(Hobbes: Bark! Bark! Aroo!)_

 _(Calvin: Yeah)  
Bring your secrets (Hobbes: Bark! Bark!), bring your scars (Hobbes: Grr)  
Bring your glory (Hobbes: Bark! Bark!), all you are (Hobbes: Grr)  
Bring your daylight (Hobbes: Bark! Bark!), bring your dark (Hobbes: Grr)  
Share your silence (Hobbes: Aroo!)  
Bring your honor (Hobbes: Bark! Bark!), bring your shame (Hobbes: Grr)  
All your madness (Hobbes: Bark! Bark!), I will tame (Hobbes: Grr)  
Won't you lay down (Hobbes: Bark! Bark!), down your guard (Hobbes: Grr)  
Share your silence  
And unpack your heart_

The audience was left stunned once more, Silena and the boy who'd first spoken out against Hobbes's presence on the stage especially speechless at how very utterly Calvin had just now served them up. The stunned silence in the air lasted all of three seconds before Calvin leaned down as if preparing to jump, and then rapidly straightened back up while simultaneously letting out a mighty lion-like, "ROAR!"

"AROO!" Hobbes howled at the exact same time as his master's roar.

"Roar!"

"Aroo!"

Five seconds after Calvin and Hobbes finished their unique duel finale call, the audience burst out into applause, a mighty roar of joy and excitement spouting from their throats at the spectacular performance that the young boy and his dog had treated them to. The only two people in the audience who weren't applauding were Silena and the boy who'd been the first to cheer for her after her performance with Charlotte. In the case of the boy, he was still feeling ashamed at how thoroughly the boy had made him eat his words. Silena, however, had her fists clenched and was now quite angry at how much of a fool she'd just now been made to look as a result of the performance that Calvin had just pulled off alongside Hobbes.

As the audience continued to cheer, Calvin lifted his hands in the air, both thumbs raised, and let out a loud "woo!" of joy. "Yeah that's right!" he yelled happily. "Cheer!" The audience got even louder. Calvin chuckled, bowed, and waved at the audience one more time with a joyous 'thank you' before he then departed from the stage and back to his seat with Hobbes following close behind and resuming his earlier position of lying down at his master's feet.

When the audience finally quieted down, the principal returned to his spot at the podium yet again. "Now _that_ was a _roaring_ success!" The audience cheered in assent. The principal chuckled. "But now, it's time for our second to last act of this year's talent show! Please welcome on stage, our own newly graduated Daniel Taymor!"

The audience cheered once more as the boy in question stood up from his seat, incidentally revealing himself to have been sitting right next to Calvin, and confidently made his way into position on stage. Emma directed her focus on him, waiting to see what sort of singing ability he'd have to offer.

Meanwhile, two other female audience members also directed equally high focused attention towards him, but for much different reasons. Diana was smiling towards him in anticipation while also mentally wishing him good luck. Charlotte, on the other hand, had a look on her face that clearly indicated that she was stunned at actually getting a true good look at him for once and liked what she was seeing.

Daniel picked up the microphone. "Hello everyone. I am Daniel Taymor. And I shall be singing Justin Timberlake's _Mirrors_." The audience all nodded their heads, looks of approval and interest on their faces. Diana, in particular, had a wide smile of anticipation and excitement on her face, clearly knowing exactly what potential Daniel had to offer in his upcoming performance and eager to see if the rest of the audience would see and hear the same potential that previously only she'd had the joy of experiencing. Daniel took a deep breath, exhaled, and nodded at the stagehand. The stagehand obliged, and the performance that followed, and with a _fantastic_ singing voice too, went like this:

 _Aren't you somethin' to admire?  
'Cause your shine is somethin' like a mirror  
And I can't help but notice  
You reflect in this heart of mine  
If you ever feel alone and  
The glare makes me hard to find  
Just know that I'm always parallel on the other side  
'Cause with your hand in my hand and a pocket full of soul  
I can tell you there's no place we couldn't go  
Just put your hand on the glass  
I'll be tryin' to pull you through  
You just gotta be strong  
'Cause I don't wanna lose you now  
I'm lookin' right at the other half of me  
The vacancy that sat in my heart  
Is a space that now you hold  
Show me how to fight for now  
And I'll tell you, baby, it was easy  
Comin' back here to you once I figured it out  
You were right here all along  
It's like you're my mirror  
My mirror staring back at me  
I couldn't get any bigger  
With anyone else beside of me  
And now it's clear as this promise  
That we're making two reflections into one  
'Cause it's like you're my mirror  
My mirror staring back at me, staring back at me  
Aren't you somethin', an original  
'Cause it doesn't seem merely assembled  
And I can't help but stare, 'cause  
I see truth somewhere in your eyes (ooh)  
I can't ever change without you  
You reflect me, I love that about you  
And if I could, I would look at us all the time  
'Cause with your hand in my hand and a pocket full of soul  
I can tell you there's no place we couldn't go  
Just put your hand on the glass  
I'll be tryin' to pull you through  
You just gotta be strong  
'Cause I don't wanna lose you now  
I'm lookin' right at the other half of me  
The vacancy that sat in my heart  
Is a space that now you hold  
Show me how to fight for now  
And I'll tell you, baby, it was easy  
Comin' back into you once I figured it out  
You were right here all along  
It's like you're my mirror  
My mirror staring back at me  
I couldn't get any bigger  
With anyone else beside of me  
And now it's clear as this promise  
That we're making two reflections into one  
'Cause it's like you're my mirror  
My mirror staring back at me, staring back at me  
Yesterday is history (oh)  
Tomorrow's a mystery (oh)  
I can see you lookin' back at me  
Keep your eyes on me  
Baby, keep your eyes on me  
'Cause I don't wanna lose you now  
I'm lookin' right at the other half of me  
The vacancy that sat in my heart  
Is a space that now you hold  
Show me how to fight for now (please show me, baby)  
I'll tell you, baby, it was easy  
Comin' back into you once I figured it out  
You were right here all along  
It's like you're my mirror  
My mirror staring back at me  
I couldn't get any bigger  
With anyone else beside of me  
And now it's clear as this promise  
That we're making two reflections into one  
'Cause it's like you're my mirror  
My mirror staring back at me, staring back at me (oh!)_

All of one second passed Daniel's finishing his performance before Diana popped up from her chair and started clapping. And as if to further emphasize just how good of a performance Daniel had made, it took just as short of an amount of time for others in the audience to follow Diana's example. Calvin was the first person to join Diana in standing up and clapping. Susan did the same immediately after Calvin, followed by Zach, who was in turn followed by Charlotte. One by one, little by little, every person in the audience stood up, clapped, and cheered in joy at the marvelous performance that they'd just been treated to. Daniel smiled, gave a nervous chuckle, and waved at the audience before then departing the stage and returning to his own seat.

As this happened, Emma shook her head side to side. She had to admit, she was impressed. She'd already deemed Susan and Calvin as worthy of being considered for membership in the New Directions, but now Daniel's performance had left her even more impressed then both acts before him combined. In fact, now that she thought about it, Daniel was not just future New Directions member material. Oh no. She could now see potential New Directions _Male Lead_ material in this boy. "He could potentially make a fantastic male lead," she thought to herself. "God knows Will's going to need one after Riley graduates. And besides, lord knows how long it's been since the age of Finn Hudson and Ryder Lynn."

Eventually, the only person still standing up was the principal. He walked on over to his spot at the podium without even bothering to sit down. "And now, we proudly present, for our final act, yet another of our newest graduates, Diana Eberhart!"

As Emma and the rest of the audience watched, a single blonde girl that had been sitting right next to Daniel got up from her seat and made her way on stage. The audience continued watching, patiently waiting as the girl came to a stop at the microphone, picked it up, took a deep breath, and exhaled. She looked straight at the audience. "Hello, I am Diana Eberhart." She took another deep breath. "Today, I shall be singing _Try_ by Colbie Caillat." She directed an almost nervous look towards the stagehand, who gave her the most reassuring smile he could manage and selected the appropriate instrumental tune. The resulting performance unfolded in the following fashion:

 _Put your make up on  
Get your nails done  
Curl your hair  
Run the extra mile  
Keep it slim  
So they like you. Do they like you?  
Get your sexy on  
Don't be shy, girl  
Take it off  
This is what you want, to belong  
So they like you. Do you like you?  
You don't have to try so hard  
You don't have to give it all away  
You just have to get up, get up, get up, get up  
You don't have to change a single thing  
You don't have to try, try, try, try-i-i  
You don't have to try, try, try, try-i-i  
You don't have to try, try, try, try-i-i  
You don't have to try  
Yoooou don't have to try  
Ooooo, oooooo, oooooo...  
Get your shopping on,  
At the mall,  
Max your credit cards  
You don't have to choose,  
Buy it all  
So they like you. Do they like you?  
Wait a second,  
Why should you care, what they think of you  
When you're all alone, by yourself  
Do you like you? Do you like you?  
You don't have to try so hard  
You don't have to give it all away  
You just have to get up, get up, get up, get up  
You don't have to change a single thing  
You don't have to try so hard  
You don't have to bend until you break  
You just have to get up, get up, get up, get up  
You don't have to change a single thing  
You don't have to try, try, try, try-i-i  
You don't have to try, try, try, try-i-i  
You don't have to try, try, try, try-i-i  
You don't have to try  
You don't have to try, try, try, try-i-i  
You don't have to try, try, try, try-i-i  
You don't have to try, try, try, try-i-i  
You don't have to try  
Yoooou don't have to try  
Oooooo, oooooo  
Oooooo, oooooo  
You don't have to try so hard  
You don't have to give it all away  
You just have to get up, get up, get up, get up  
You don't have to change a single thing  
You don't have to try, try, try, try-i-i  
You don't have to try, try, try, try-i-i  
You don't have to try  
You don't have to try  
Take your make up off  
Let your hair down  
Take a breath  
Look into the mirror, at yourself  
Don't you like you?  
Cause I like you_

For all of two seconds, dead silence followed the performance. Then, as if on an unspoken cue, Daniel stood up from his seat and started rigorously clapping. This action soon ended up triggering a mass chain reaction of applause, as Calvin and Susan stood up and started clapping instantly afterward, Hobbes stood up on all fours and started barking joyously in time with the clapping, Zach stood up and joined in the applause, then Dunlap, then Naomi, then Darren, then Amber, then Cody, then Bailey, then Raj, and then another person, and another person, and another person until eventually the entire audience apart from Charlotte, Silena, and Ashley was standing up and clapping and cheering in a joyous roar of applause. Diana blushed at the applause she was receiving, nervously bowed, and just managed to stutter out a thank you before she rushed off the stage and returned to her seat.

Even as the audience continued to applaud for the newly ended finale, the principal walked on over to his position at the podium one final time, a happy smile still on his face in spite of his no longer actively clapping and cheering. He waited patiently for the audience to quiet down. "Wasn't that just amazing?"

Most of the audience cheered in assent. But at that moment, Emma was hardly all that concerned with taking part alongside them. Right then, she was far too busy thinking very hard about the very talented performance that she'd just been treated to. There was no mistaking it. Over the course of that final act for this year's middle school hosted local talent show, she had been given an indisputable and impossible to deny introduction to not only a 13th person to add to her mental list of potential future members for the New Directions, but also a girl that clearly had what it took to potentially be the newest female lead. "Will and the boys are going to be so proud of me," she thought to herself. "I can't wait to tell Will about the talent I just got a taste of to tell him about. I've just encountered an entire new generation of New Directions. I just know it!"

. . . . .

A quarter of an hour later, Cody, Bailey, and Raj were gathered around just outside the gym having a little talk while their parents got in a few words of their own. The three friends couldn't have felt happier. Even Cody, despite is initial nervousness at being amongst the opening act, was feeling quite proud of himself.

"Wasn't that fun?" said Raj.

"You bet your bottom boots it was!" Bailey chuckled. "Yep, the world better look out, because Bailey Kellogg's officially on her way to being a star!"

Cody chuckled. "You still have quite a long way to travel before you reach that point girl."

"Hate to break it to you, oh ye of little faith." Bailey turned around to directly face Cody. "But that sure as heck ain't gonna stop me!"

"It sure ain't," Raj agreed. "But for now, I say we get on out with our parents and celebrate a job well done!"

"Now that's what I'm talking about," said Bailey.

"Took the words right out of my mouth bro," Cody agreed.

Raj chuckled, and the three friends briefly started walking off in their parents' direction. Then Raj noticed a slight movement out of the corner of his eyes, and he stopped. He turned his head just in time to see a young Korean American girl about the same age as him standing a couple feet or so away from him alongside a dark haired Caucasian boy who looked about two years younger. Both of them were smiling, and they were looking straight at Raj.

Raj smiled back. It was around that moment that Cody and Bailey finally noticed that Raj had paused, and they turned to face him just in time for the Indian American boy to say, "You go on ahead, I'll catch up." His two friends weren't entirely certain just what Raj was up to, but then they shrugged and did as asked, certain that Raj likely knew what he was doing. And indeed, Raj did. He walked straight up to the other two kids smiling his way, his own warm smile still on his face. He came to a stop right in front of the pair. "I take it you enjoyed yourselves."

The Caucasian boy chuckled, and rubbed his hand through his hair. "You bet we did pal!" He made a playful fist with his right hand and lifted it in front of his face with an almost challenging smile. "And I don't care if this thing was just for fun; if this had been an actual contest, that performance that you and your friends did should have _totally_ blown the others out of the water and ended the competition right then and there!"

Raj rolled his eyes. "Sid, be reasonable."

"I'm dead serious!" Sid chuckled. "Really; you, Cody, and Bailey? The rest of the performers should have been sent home by default after how thoroughly you three whooped their sorry. . ."

"Sid," the girl hissed with a slight, yet still rather noticeable, element of tension in her voice. "Enough."

Sid gulped, an embarrassed blush coming on his face as he realized how carried away he'd been getting. "You're right," he said. He hung his head. "Sorry Kimberly."

Kimberly Chung sighed, and shook her head side to side. She looked back at Raj. "Forgive me for Sid's behavior," she said. "He's been very hyperactive and competitive lately."

"Hey it's fine," said Raj. "Really, it is." He smiled once more. "I'm just glad that you and Sid were here to see me do my stuff, not to mention that you enjoyed it."

"Hey, what are friends for?"

Raj and Kimberly chuckled at the sound of Sid's question. The two Asian Americans then looked straight at each other, a matching smile of warmth and just barely concealed affection on their faces. Raj had no idea why, but for some reason, he always felt so at ease around Kimberly; even more so then he'd ever before felt when around Cody and Bailey. Quite honestly, he had no idea how the heck to explain this. But frankly, neither did he care.

Kimberly stepped forward, abruptly giving Raj a hug. Raj tensed up in surprise, and then eventually returned the gesture. The two 14-year-olds spent almost 5 minutes straight in this embrace, and it took all of Sid's willpower not to act in some way that would ruin the moment. Raj and Kimberly finally split away, smiling still. "Thank you Kim," said Raj. He nodded his head. "I'm glad you were here."

"You're welcome." Kimberly nodded her head. "Right back at you."

The two teens chuckled, gave each other one last hug, and then broke it off as Raj proceeded to hurriedly rush off to catch up with Cody and Bailey. "See you later!" he managed to yell.

"Bye!" said Kimberly. Sid, gave a farewell wink and waved, knowing that Raj would see him doing so. Raj chuckled, waved back at the younger boy, and then turned his head and ran far enough to finally depart from Kimberly and Sid's sight.

Soon after Raj finally left her sight and hearing, a very noticeable look of longing came upon Kimberly's face, and she let out a sigh. Sid noticed both the sigh and the look on Kimberly's face, and let out a sigh of his own. He shook his head side to side, and then turned it to his left so he could face her. "Kim," Sid began in a noticeably serious tone of voice. He sighed once more. "One of these days, you've really got to tell Raj about how you feel for him."

Kimberly sighed, and hung her head. "I know Sid, and believe me, I really want to tell him. Honest I do." She raised her head. "But every time I've tried, something always gets in the way or similarly messes things up. And then there's Bailey to consider." She sighed once more. "I just . . . I just don't think I'm ready to risk all that yet." Her head drooped once more. "I still need time."

"Not trying to be difficult on purpose," Sid began. "But with all the stuff we don't know for sure to be considered, you might not have very much time, and that's assuming you haven't already run out of time."

"I know that Sid." Kimberly sighed. "I keep reminding myself of that every day, and it's still not enough." She shook her head side to side. "Honestly Sid, I wouldn't be taking this long if I wasn't legitimately having difficulty."

"Kim. . ."

"And don't you start getting all up in my case about it." Kimberly turned around to directly face Sid. "It's not like you're any better off than me. How long as it been since the last time we talked about what's going on with you and Cameron?"

Sid thought to himself, opened his mouth and lifted his finger as if about to speak, then paused, then made as if about to speak again, and then paused again.

"Has anything at all changed between you two since that time?"

Sid sighed, and hung his head. "Point taken," he admitted grudgingly.

Kimberly sighed, and hung her head. "You're so lucky that you and Cameron are the only boys on your team around here that we know of. At least you don't appear to have a legitimate rival to worry about getting in between you and Cameron. Me? I have Bailey to contend with."

"I may not have any known rivals," said Sid. "But that doesn't necessarily make my situation any better than yours." He sighed. "But that's beside the point. I've seen the way Raj interacts with Cody and Bailey just as clearly as you have, possibly even more clearly then you." He pointed in the direction that Raj had departed. "And believe me, from what I can tell, this is hardly something you can shrug off and dismiss out of hand. Granted, I've noticed what could yet be a slight mutual attraction between Cody and Bailey. But even with that in mind, I _know_ that she's got something developing in her for Raj. And he may very well have a thing of his own cooking up for her already."

Kimberly glared at Sid. "So you're saying I should just give up then?"

"No," said Sid. "But I am saying that, if he hasn't already gotten a smooth bonfire burning between him and Bailey, Raj could yet pair up with her if you don't make a move sometime in the future." He sighed, and shook his head side to side. "Look Kim, I'm not trying to be discouraging. And I'm not going to push you into confessing to him while you're still not ready. This issue you've got with Raj? It's your issue to resolve. All I'm saying is that you should at least _try_ not to wait too long. If you don't do something about this soon, then unless some miracle occurs for you on Raj's end," he placed his hand comfortingly on the Korean American girl's shoulder. "You're gonna lose him Kim."

Kimberly sighed, knowing that her friend was right. "I know," she said in a very dejected sounding tone.

"Come on," said Sid, noticing how very down his friend now was. "Let's get going. Maybe getting you back into a happy mood will help you get this matter over with more easily."

"Doubtful." Kimberly gave a warm half smile. "But worth a shot."

. . . . .

Outside, multiple yards away from the gym, were Dunlap, Naomi, Darren, and Amber. Much like the non-Caucasian trio, they were all in quite a good mood. "High time I got people cheering for me for once," said Dunlap, his red eyes agleam with pride. "Maybe now I'll finally get some level of respect in this lame school just in time for 8th grade."

"One can certainly hope," Darren agreed. He cracked his knuckles. "Quite honestly, sometimes I feel like I'm really starting to get quite sick of always having to teach the next set of bullies to tease you proper manners."

"Well as long as you're still willing to resume those classes by the time our time in high school begins, I'm sure Dunlap won't mind you taking a break from them in the event that today's performance earns him a respite for 8th grade," said Amber.

Naomi chuckled. "I can certainly vouch for him on that."

The two boys chuckled, shook their heads side to side, and then briefly looked up into the sky. After a few minutes of silence, they lowered their heads from the sky and looked back at their two female companions. Then Dunlap looked back at Darren. "You really think you'll be able to be with us in high school?"

Darren smiled, and nodded his head, yellow contact lensed eyes agleam. "Sure do. Quite honestly, I can't think of anything that could possibly go wrong. I'm sure of it this time."

Dunlap raised his eyebrow, all too aware of just how these hopes of Darren's had turned out two weeks ago. Then he snapped the unworthy thoughts out of his mind. "No," he thought to himself. "He's my friend. He deserves better than these faithless doubts." He extended his hand towards the redhead boy. "Very well," said the albino. "In that case, I look forward to seeing you in class with us in 9th grade."

"What he said," said Amber as she extended her own hand towards Darren.

"Join the club," said Naomi, tentatively extending her own hand towards her fellow ginger.

Darren smiled, shook Dunlap's hand, then Naomi's, and then Amber's, taking a noticeably longer time to finish his handshake with Amber then he had with Dunlap and Naomi. He turned around, checking with his eyes that all three of his friends had their attention focused on him. "When I make it into high school with you two years from now," Darren began, "I say the four of us see if there's any clubs or other activities that allow for singing or anything else music-related. And if there is such an activity available," he took a deep breath, and then exhaled. "I say we take part in it together."

The other three children looked each other in the eyes, thought to themselves, and then nodded. They looked back at Darren.

"Consider it done," said Dunlap.

"Count me in," said Amber.

Naomi, however, had another concern to raise. "When should we join?"

Darren thought to himself, then reached a decision. "Sophomore year at the earliest." He nodded his head. "Freshman year, we'll already be busy enough just getting used to life in high school. By the time sophomore year begins, we should already be well in tune with how things work at whatever high school we're attending and will be able to afford devoting time to clubs and such."

His three friends thought to themselves once more, and then nodded in unanimous agreement once more. "Sounds like a plan," said Dunlap.

The four friends smiled, then placed their right hands in the center of their little circle on top of each other. Smiles still on their faces, they said in unison, "1, 2, 3." They rapidly lifted their right hands skyward. "TO US!"

. . . . .

"Hello?" said Silena, snapping her fingers for good measure. "Earth to Charlotte!"

Charlotte snapped out of a daze she'd been in. "What?" she asked. "Did you say something?"

Silena groaned. "Honestly girl, what is with you? Ever since the talent show ended, you've been stuck in this love-struck stupor."

Charlotte raised her eyebrow. "I have?"

"Yes, you have," said Ashley. She shook her head side to side. "And quite honestly, its scaring me that you're behaving like this right now."

"Me to," said Silena. "Honestly, you've never acted this way before. And the fact that you started behaving this way after Daniel's performance when you were quite vocally taking potshots at him not too long beforehand has really gotten me worried."

Charlotte thought to herself. Had she really been effected that strongly? She shook her head side to side to clear her thoughts. "Sorry," she said. "Honestly, I have no idea what's come over me." She looked up at her two gal pals. "Really, what came over me just now? I'm just as confused about it as you are."

"You sure about that?" Silena asked.

"I have to agree," said Ashley. "I think this might be simpler to explain then you say it is."

Charlotte narrowed her eyes in confusion. "What are you talking about?"

"Come on Charlotte, you're smarter than this." Silena shook her head side to side. "Honestly, it's really quite obvious."

"What's obvious? Stop beating around the bush!"

"Well for one, I saw crystal clear the way you were gawking at him when he was on stage, and I saw the look on your face while he was there before, during, and after his performance."

"Me to," said Ashley. "Not to mention, considering the look on your face when that last girl was on stage, and especially when everyone was clapping for her after her performance, I could have sworn that you looked kind of . . . jealous."

Charlotte rolled her eyes. "Well of course I was jealous. She got all the applause that we should have gotten!"

"Oh it was so much more than that," Silena chuckled.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It's really quite simple Charlotte," said Ashley. She shook her head side to side. "You love him."

Charlotte gaped at her friend. "Love him?!" she hissed. "That's impossible!"

Silena and Ashley merely smirked in response. "Is it?" they asked in unison.

Charlotte opened her mouth as if about to respond, only to then pause and think to herself. Was the idea really that difficult to comprehend?

Silena and Ashley chuckled, and shook their heads side to side. "Don't you dare try to deny it," said Silena. "We know you too well for that. Besides, like I said, I saw the way you were looking at him while he was on stage, and especially while he was singing. And trust me, from the look that was on your face, you clearly liked what you were seeing."

"And what you were hearing," Ashley added in.

"Not to mention," Silena continued. "Your jealousy in regards to that last girl to perform? Really, if the fact that she got all the applause that we should have received was the only reason behind it, your jealous face would have only been present after the applause started. But we saw the look you had on your face immediately after she came on stage, and you were clearly jealous of her before she'd even started singing, not to mention when she was the first one to stand up and applaud for Daniel after his performance and you saw the way he reacted both to the applause and really to just about anything involving her period." She chuckled, and shook her head side to side. "You've got it bad girl."

Charlotte thought carefully to herself, and found herself quite surprised when she realized that her two friends had made some valid points, and now that she was thinking about it from the proper perspective, the idea really did make quite a lot of sense. "Maybe they're right," she thought to herself. "Maybe I do love him."

She eventually looked back at Silena and Ashley, her thoughtful look still on her face, and the smug grins still on the faces of the other two girls. "I'll admit," said Charlotte. "When you put it that way, I guess maybe the idea's not really all that farfetched after all."

Silena chuckled. "See? I knew you'd get it all figured out sooner or later."

"I know right?" Ashley asked in agreement.

Charlotte gave a nervous chuckle. "If you say so."

"Hey Ashley!"

The three girls turned around just in time to see none other than Donovan standing a couple yards away, waving his hands frantically in the air as if trying to get someone's attention. "Come on, your parents are waiting for you. Not to mention, Brooke's starting to get nervous."

That last sentence was all Ashley needed to hear. "I've gotta go." She hurriedly started to run off. "I'll see you guys later!"

"Bye!" Silena and Charlotte yelled in unison.

About a minute later, with Ashley and Donovan very much departed, Silena and Charlotte were just on the verge of resuming their conversation when they heard another male voice yell, "Silena!"

The two girls looked in the direction the voice had come from, and saw none other than Silena's own gentleman caller, Becket Nelson. The boy had a smile on his face that looked half joyous and half relieved. "There you are," said Becket, his hazel eyes happily gleaming to the point that they were almost the exact same shade as his dirty blonde hair. "Your parents were starting to wonder what was taking you so long, and they sent me off to look for you. Sorry if I've interrupted anything, but I have a feeling it might be a good idea for me to return to them with you in the near future. . ."

"Say no more," said Silena. She looked back at Charlotte. "We'll finish this discussion later. How's that?"

Charlotte nodded. "Go on ahead. It's probably about time I joined back up with my family as well. Lord knows how protective my dad gets of me and Tamara."

"Well considering his job, can you really blame him?"

Silena chuckled after saying this, and she hurriedly ran off to join up with Becket so he could guide her back to where her parents were. "See you later Charlotte!"

"Bye!"

After Silena and Becket had departed, Charlotte took a deep breath, exhaled, and then started on her way towards where she was certain her family would be waiting for her. As she was walking, she found herself thinking once more about Daniel. "God," she thought to herself. "I really don't know him that well at all." She narrowed her eyes in a determined glare. "That needs to change."

By sheer luck, she just happened to notice a very familiar looking African American boy while on her way to find her family, and her blue eyes widened in recognition. She hurriedly rushed off towards him. "Hey!"

Zach turned his head at the sound of the shout, and a noticeably happy look came on his face at the sight of the pretty girl running towards him. "Nice to meet you," he said when the girl came to a stop.

"Thanks," said Charlotte. She looked up at Zach, having managed to get her breath back. "Weren't you that guy who performed right after me? That song about a sweet summer?"

Zach smiled. "Yep, that's me." He extended his hand towards her as if offering for her to shake it. "Zach Skinner, at your service mam."

Charlotte rolled her eyes at the overly formal way the boy was speaking to her, but shook his hand nonetheless.

"It's Charlotte right?"

Charlotte raised her eyebrow, then nodded as she figured out exactly what Zach was asking. "That's me," she replied. "Charlotte Thornton; pleased to meet you."

"Pleasure's all mine." Zach chuckled. "Though let me guess, you've got some sort of stronger motive behind talking to me right now then just randomly deciding to talk to me?"

Charlotte involuntarily winced at the words. "Yeah, sorry, but I was hoping to ask you something." She looked around the area, her face falling as if she'd failed to find what she was looking for. She looked back at Zach. "That boy who performed that Justin Timberlake song earlier; my friends and I saw him talking to you before the talent show started. Is he a friend of yours?"

"Oh Daniel?" Zach chuckled. "You bet! He's my best buddy! Heck, you could say that we're practically brothers in all but blood, skin, and name."

"That's really nice," said Charlotte. "Have you seen him anywhere recently? I'd like to talk to him."

"I'm afraid you just missed him." Zach nodded his head as if in sympathy. "He and Diana left to go find their parents not too long ago."

Charlotte raised her eyebrow at the other name.

"His other close friend," Zach explained.

Charlotte made a silent 'oh', and then hung her head. "Pity," she said. "I was hoping to talk to him."

"I kinda figured."

Charlotte glared.

"Not that that's a bad thing," Zach hurriedly backpedaled.

Charlotte sighed.

"But uh," said Zach. "If you want, I'm willing to talk to you, maybe even tell you a thing or two about Daniel if you want. Of course, I'm also willing to talk about other things as well."

Charlotte almost instantly brightened back up upon hearing all this. "Uh yes, actually that would be a great idea." She thought to herself. "Yeah, sure, I'll definitely be willing to talk to you about Daniel and whatever else we think might be worth talking about; I mean, you'll probably make a pretty nice friend of mine to sweeten the deal. Where should we meet?"

Zach continued to maintain a happy smile, even though he was mentally still feeling somewhat disheartened about how Charlotte appeared to be significantly more potentially romantically interested in Daniel then himself, and he drew out his cellphone. "Tell you what," he said. "How about we exchange phone numbers, and then we talk to our parents and let them decide on the rest from there?"

. . . . .

"Sure was fun huh?"

Susan chuckled, and shook her head side to side. At the current moment, she was walking down the sidewalk leading towards the parking lot, arm in arm with Calvin, and with Hobbes following close behind the two of them. "You can say that again," she agreed. "Still, did you really have to do what you did when you got everybody to start clapping for me alongside you?"

"Hey," said Calvin nonchalantly. "What are friends for?"

Susan couldn't help but giggle at this response. "Fair enough." She turned her head to briefly look behind her. "Still," she looked back at Calvin, "are you absolutely certain your parents won't have any words for you about what you said to those two kids who asked about your needing Hobbes on stage with you?"

"Oh please," said Calvin in a tone that clearly indicated that he couldn't care less about that detail, "those two lowlifes deserved it."

"I'm serious."

"So am I."

Calvin turned his head to face Susan, all while the two still continued walking. "Look, I get it. What I said was hardly the nicest thing I could have said to either of them. But really, after what they said to _me_ , and especially considering how I could have reacted if this hadn't been such a public spectacle enough as it was, they got off lightly." He looked ahead. "And if my parents have any words for me over that stuff I said to them, I'll just accept what they have to say, grin and bear it, and roll with it from there." He turned his head to look behind him. "Right Hobbes?"

Hobbes barked twice in apparent agreement, and then resumed his happily panting while following his master and Susan.

"See?" said Calvin. "I'm good."

"If you say so." Susan turned her head and looked to the side. Then she looked back at her friend. "You know Calvin," she began. "I was wondering, when that one black kid was singing _My Sweet Summer_ , why did you join in?"

Calvin thought to himself. Truth be told, he still wasn't entirely sure himself why he'd done so. "I honestly have no idea," he eventually managed to say. He shook his head side to side. "Really, I wish I knew the answer to that just as much as you do."

Susan thought to herself, and then shrugged. "If you say so." She looked to the side for a moment, and then back at her friend, smile on her face once more. "Well, I guess we can hope that it turns out be a good omen, if at all significant."

Calvin chuckled, and shook his head side to side. "We'll see," said the autistic.

. . . . .

"Did I tell you? Or did I _tell_ you?"

Diana chuckled, and shook her head side to side at Daniel's question. "I will admit, the audience certainly seemed to enjoy what I had to offer."

"Seemed to enjoy?" Daniel chuckled. "Oh there was no ambiguity to it, they loved it. You know they did."

Diana chuckled, smile still on her face. But even with Daniel's current praise, she was not going to throw aside her natural humble air. She wouldn't do that if offered a million bucks. "If you say so."

Daniel chuckled, and shook his head side to side. "Humble as ever," he thought to himself. A small smile came on his face as he had that thought. "Just one of the things that makes me like her so much as a friend." He turned his head slightly so that his face would be just out of Diana's sight, his smile widening. "And something I'd definitely still like about her if I came to like her as more than that."

"You know," said Diana. "You did a pretty good job yourself." She turned her head to look directly at her friend. "Bet you're glad I talked you into performing in the talent show today, aren't you?"

Daniel chuckled, and turned his head to face Diana. "You bet I am."

The two friends smiled, turned their heads to face the parking lot directly in front of them and the bench they were sitting on, and then sighed in content. They spent a few minutes in companionable silence, waiting for their parents to call them or drive by in their cars to pick them up.

"Daniel?"

"Yes?"

"Do you really think that this is good enough for me to consider a proper start in eventually becoming a star?"

"I don't think that," said Daniel. He turned his head to face her, a smile on his face. "I _know_ that."

"Daniel. . ."

"I'm serious." Daniel comfortingly placed his hands on Diana's shoulders. "Trust me. I know how hard you work at this kind of stuff and how dedicated and passionate you are about becoming the next Rachel Berry. You've wanted that since you were in elementary school. And believe me, that is what you are _going_ to get. Just wait; as soon as you've graduated high school, you'll go straight to NYADA, graduate from there at the top of your class and with the best marks." He gestured the area in front of himself and Diana in a wide horizontal arc. "And the rest will be history."

Diana thought to herself. "I guess you're probably right." She looked back at Daniel. "You know, you'll probably have a pretty swell future ahead of you to."

"You really think so?"

"Mm-hm." Diana nodded her head. "If I'm as capable of being the next Rachel Berry as you say I am, then you are definitely just as capable of being the next Finn Hudson. I'll bet you cash money on that."

"No need to gamble," said Daniel. "But nonetheless, your faith in me is most appreciated."

Diana giggled, and shook her head side to side. She sighed, leaned over sideways, and lay her head across Daniel's shoulder. Daniel looked over at her, his eyebrow raised in confusion. Diana smiled, her head still laying on Daniel's shoulder. "Daniel? Don't ever change."

Daniel smiled. "Can you promise me the same thing?"

Diana giggled. "You know I can."

Daniel chuckled, and shook his head side to side. He looked ahead, sighing in content.

Diana sighed as well. "Daniel?" The boy looked at her again. "Thank you for being my friend. I really couldn't have asked for a better friend then you."

Daniel smiled. "I could say the same for you Diana." He nodded his head. "We'll always be friends, all the way to the end, no matter what happens."

Diana let a warm smile come on her face. "Cross your heart?"

Daniel returned the smile, and nodded his head, making a 'crossing heart' gesture across his chest. "Cross my heart."

Diana giggled, and Daniel chuckled. The two friends returned their gaze towards the parking lot ahead of them, Diana's head still resting comfortably upon Daniel's shoulder. And thus, they remained that way all the way up to when their parents finally arrived to take them back to their respective cars and from there return home.

. . . . .

At exactly 7:00, Emma was in the midst of some very important business in the Schuester household. With dinner finished, and Victor in his room playing video games, she was now on the verge of the important task of calling Will, hopefully catching him at a good time, and informing him of the talent show and the 13 potential future New Directions members she'd encountered over the course of it, all while still in the kitchen of their house.

With a deep breath, she selected her husband's cell number from her contact list and initiated an attempt to call him. She placed the phone up to her ear, listening patiently as the tone went off a once, twice, a third time. After the fourth ring of the tone, she finally heard Will's familiar voice say, "Hello?"

"Hello," said Emma.

"Emma?" said Will. "Hi, um, I was just doing some final preparations to make sure I'm all set for the final round of Nationals tonight."

Emma mentally winced upon hearing this. "Oh sorry," she said. "I'll call you later then. . ."

"No, no, no," Will's voice hurriedly stated on the other end of the line. "No you don't have to hang up, not now. I've still got time. It doesn't start for another 30 to 45 minutes. I can talk; and I'll let you know if I need to go. But for now, I'm good."

"You're sure?"

"Positive Emma," said Will. "So, what did you want to say? How was the talent show?"

Emma smiled. "It was fun," she admitted. "I still can't entirely believe I managed to sit through the entire thing without you and the boys and lived to tell the tale."

"I knew you had it in you," said Will. "Anything in particular about it this year that you enjoyed?"

Emma chuckled, and shook her head side to side. "The whole thing was just . . . wonderful." She cleared her throat. "However," she continued, "I will admit, there were about 13 performers amongst the talent show's roster that I think could yet prove worthy of becoming New Directions members in the future if they turn out to be available by the time you find yourself in need of more members again."

Will whistled. "13? That's a lot." There was a pause. "You sure that that number of potential new members is a good omen?"

"Will, you know that I don't believe in that superstition anymore, assuming I ever even did believe that stupid old wives' tale in the first place. And I know you don't believe it either."

Will chuckled. "I know Emma," he said. "I'm just messing with you." Emma could hear him take a deep breath, and then exhale. "But nonetheless, care to tell me some more about those 13 performers in question? I'd like to have an idea of what to expect and look for in case they turn up at McKinley. I'd also like to know how Victor's doing, and Daniel if you've had a chance to talk to him. We tried to call each other earlier today, but I was busy with something and had left my phone behind when he tried to call, and then he ended up somehow failing to pick up when I noticed the missed call and tried to call him back."

Emma chuckled, and shook her head side to side. "I'll see how much I can fit in before you have to go."

"Fire away."

For the next few minutes, Emma proceeded to calmly tell Will everything she could think of worth mentioning about the 13 young performers that she was now so certain would prove to be the perfect new recruits for the New Directions in the future, and she proved to deem quite a large number of details appropriate for letting Will know about. She even told him about the dog that had provided its unique form of accompaniment to the one boy's performance. Will turned out to be especially intrigued by that detail. And really, considering what he'd just learned about this dog, who wouldn't have been intrigued? And even after all that, she still managed to have enough time to briefly tell her husband that Victor was doing fine, promise that she'd let him know that he'd said hi, and tell him a few things that she'd talked with Daniel about on the phone at varying points of the day before she eventually found herself pausing in her speech, wondering about how long she'd spent on the phone.

"Will?" she asked. "What time is it?"

There was an obvious pause on Will's end of the line. Then she heard him drop an S-bomb. "I've gotta go," said Will. "The competition's gonna start in 15 minutes, and we need to be in the auditorium at least 5 minutes before it starts. I'll have to talk to you later, I'm sorry."

"It's fine," said Emma. "Just do your thing. You know how much those kids need you."

"Indeed I do," said Will, in a half happy and half regretful tone in his voice. "Bye."

"Bye," said Emma.

The call ended, and Emma slipped her phone back into her pocket, sighing in content. She looked off in the direction of the kitchen exit nearest the steps leading upstairs. She smiled. "Time I told Victor that his dad is about to do his magic," she thought to herself. She left the kitchen to go find her youngest son, eager to tell him about both his father's upcoming newest efforts at winning his latest group of honorable 'children' yet another Nationals championship as well as tell him in even further detail about the same 13 performers she'd seen at the talent show who she still believed even now would someday turn out to be the newest group to become part of her husband's surrogate student family.

. . . . .

Meanwhile, in the main foyer of the Orpheum Theatre in Boston, Will Schuester slipped his own cellphone into his pocket, letting out a sigh of content and sentimentality. "It sure is nice to know that Emma enjoyed the talent show even though Daniel, Victor, and I were unable to join her this time." He smiled. "And it's definitely nice to know that the talent show has proven just as effective this year in exposing potential future New Directions members to my family as it's been for the last 10 years."

He then hung his head, a suddenly less happy look on his face. "God," he thought to himself. "I've been doing this stuff for so long now; yet why is it always so hard to accept how I always have to eventually say goodbye and take someone else?" He sighed once more. As was common knowledge for himself, his family, and a considerable number of other people who knew him, the New Directions were basically an honorary extended branch of family to him. It was no secret either, that he loved virtually every single student who'd joined the ranks of the club from its birth in 2009 all the way to now in 2033 just as much as he'd turned out to love his own children. Very few, if any, had ever been an exception to this. And of course, like any father, he always, deep down, hated it when the time came for him to step back and let them grow their wings and fly.

Sometimes, the losses were easier to move on from than others. The first time the club had ever had to permanently say goodbye to one of its members regarding said person being actively associated with the club had been when Matt Rutherford, who had been the club's 12th ever member in the club's history, had transferred schools in the summer of 2010. The 2nd time had occurred technically over the summer of 2011, but had only become official at the beginning of the 2011-2012 school year, when Lauren Zizes, through a mixture of gradually starting to feel bored and unappreciated with her life as a New Directioneer and deciding that she was better off sticking to where she was at her best and most appreciated in wrestling rather than staying with a club that had both perpetually overshadowed her and managed to fall short of a proper victory for its school twice in a row, had resigned her membership, severing her ties with then boyfriend Noah Puckerman in the process.

However, the first truly difficult departures to move on and recover from had occurred at the end of the 2011-2012 McKinley High school year, the very year that they had finally established themselves as 100% show choir champions. At the end of that year, their first full season victory had been cruelly balanced out by half the club's than 16 student membership had graduated. All 8 of those members had been actively involved with the club since its first year, and four of them had been among the very first six members from the club's inception. And in the summer after that, the club had lost a 9th member from its 2011-2012 retinue thanks to the deportation of the Irish foreign exchange student Rory Flanagan, who'd only been a member, or even a student at McKinley for a single year. But even after that, Will and the New Directions had continued to soldier their way onward, finding new students to add to their still increasing extended family. But then yet more graduations and departures had continued to occur, year, after year, after year. And even after all this time, Will Schuester still found it just so very hard to accept and bear.

"So many students I've had to say goodbye to and replace over the years," he thought to himself melancholically. "First the generation of Finn and Rachel, then the generation of Ryder and Marley, and then so many other generations after that." He turned his head towards the main doors leading outside the theater. "And in the next 2 years at most, I'll have had to say to the entirety of the newest generation . . . including Riley and Tess." He hung his head once more, another sigh escaping his lips. "It's just not fair."

"Mr. Schue?"

Jolted out of his thoughts, Mr. Schuester turned his head, and found a small smile coming back on his face at the sight of none other than the current leads of the New Directions that he'd only just now been thinking of, Riley Hansford and Tess Sewicky. Judging by the way they were dressed and likewise physically styled, they were still just as prepared and ready to perform as the other current members. "Hey there," said the proud teacher.

"Good to see you to," said Tess. She shook her head side to side, sending her blonde hair flying.

Mr. Schuester let a small grin surreptitiously come onto his face as he made note of this detail. "Boy," he thought to himself, "There's been a lot of blondes taking the 'Rachel' role in the New Directions over the last few generations. Makes me wonder what happened to the times when both leads always had dark hair."

The two students stepped forward. "Come on Mr. Schue," said Riley, his hand extended out towards the teacher and his dark eyes clearly showing concern. "Whatever it is you've spent the last half an hour out here doing, it needs to come to a stop, you need to be in the auditorium with us within the next 7 minutes."

Mr. Schuester snapped out of it. "Right, of course," he said. He hung his head. "Sorry."

Tess and Riley noticed all this, and they briefly paused in their thoughts. "Mr. Schue?" Tess asked, her blue eyes showing just as much concern as her boyfriend's brown ones. "Is everything ok?"

Mr. Schuester sighed. "It's nothing," he said. "Just, remembering all the other students who've been in this club before you, how they all eventually had to leave, and by extension how that will eventually happen to you and the others."

Riley and Tess looked each other in the eyes. They knew exactly what the problem was now that Mr. Schuester had said those word's he'd now said. They looked back at him. It was no secret that Mr. Schuester always found it hard to let his students go when the time came for them to move on; and it had never become any easier over the course of all the various generations and members that had come and gone before the current generation he had. But now, with their teacher getting angsty and sad about their generation's departure _this_ early on beforehand, they could tell that things were _really_ getting serious.

Riley and Tess walked up to their teacher. "Mr. Schue," Riley began. "I get it. We know how much you miss all the other students that you've had in this club before me, Tess, and the others you currently have. And we all know how hard it is for you to move on and bear it when our moments of departure arrive."

Tess nodded her head in agreement with her boyfriend, just barely managing to refrain from placing her hand on Mr. Schuester's shoulder out of fear of being inappropriate. "But as difficult as it's been for you after all the others before us, and as tough as it will be when the time comes for me, Riley, and the others to move on, it won't be the end of the world."

"Tess is right." Riley nodded his head. "The world didn't end for you and the New Directions after the departure of Finn Hudson and Rachel Berry, though admittedly, it did come pretty darn close to doing so. And it didn't end after the departure of Ryder Lynn and Marley Rose. And as you can tell by our being here right now, it didn't end after the departure of all the other generations of New Directions that came before us. Besides," he let a grin come on his face. "Let me guess, you had a little talk with Ms. Pillsbury not too long ago about that talent show shindig. Didn't you?"

Mr. Schuester thought to himself, carefully trying to decide just what would be the right thing to say in response. Then he decided that he'd might as well tell the truth and confirm it since Riley, and possibly Tess judging by the look on her face, had pretty much already figured it out. He sighed. "Yes."

"And presumably, she found some potential new blood amongst the performers," said Tess.

Mr. Schuester nodded his head in confirmation.

"Well that's good news," said Tess. She nodded her head. "Assuming all the people she found this year are available by the time we've gone, you won't have to long to wait before you get another generation to allow the New Directions to continue onward."

"I know." Mr. Schuester sighed. "They'll never replace you though."

Riley chuckled. "Forgive me if this makes me sound like a douche, but I doubt that that's true." Mr. Schuester directed a half confused and half insulted look towards Riley, and the boy continued. "You thought the same thing about Finn and Rachel's generation, you thought the same thing about Ryder and Marley's generation, and so on and so forth all the way up to thinking the exact same about the generation that came directly before me and Tess's generation."

"Riley's right." Tess nodded her head once more. "Trust me, regardless of whether any of the performers your wife got a taste of today become members of the next generation of New Directions or not, you're bound to find worthy students to pass on the mantle of this club's membership to and take our place."

"In a good way," Riley added.

Mr. Schuester nodded in agreement, for he had no doubt at all that his two current leads would indeed turn out to be correct in this statement. "It still won't be the same though."

"I know it won't." Riley nodded his head. "But the real beauty of it? It doesn't have to be the same."

"Indeed," Tess agreed. "If every student in this club, let alone every generation of New Directioneers, were the exact same as the one that preceded, it would be so boring. Not to mention, you wouldn't enjoy or be anywhere as passionate about your work with this club as you are."

At that point, both Tess and Riley decided that they could put aside being appropriate for just this one moment and placed a hand each on their teacher's shoulders. "I know you'll never forget us," said Tess. "But whatever generations come after us won't make you regret letting us go."

"She's right," said Riley. "And besides, if it were easy for you to let all of us go when the time comes, then that would you mean you never cared about any of us at all. And the fact that it's never got even a tiny bit easier for you to say goodbye, step aside, and let us spread our wings and fly? That means you still care about this club and all of us just as much as you did all the way back when the New Directions was born." He nodded his head. "And believe me, I'm sure that wherever she is, Lillian Adler would be proud of you."

Mr. Schuester thought to himself, then sighed, and nodded his head. "I have to admit," he thought to himself. "He certainly does have a point." He hung his head. "If you say so."

"That's good." Riley and Tess removed their hands from their teacher's shoulders. "Besides," Tess continued. "You've still got two years with us. I'm sure that will be plenty of time for you to be ready when the time comes."

Mr. Schuester gave a low chuckle. "One can certainly hope so."

Tess and Riley chuckled. Then they looked at the nearby clock. "Come on," said Riley. "We've got three minutes left before we absolutely must be present in the auditorium at full capacity. Let's go."

"Right of course," said Mr. Schuester. He nodded his head, and then looked back up at his students, smile on his face once more. "Lead the way." Tess and Riley smiled, turned around, and made their way back to the doors they'd used to enter and exit the auditorium not too long ago, hand in hand. Mr. Schuester followed close behind them, half of his mind still on the depressing matter of the eventual departure of the two students walking together in front of him as well as of all the other students currently amongst the New Directions members alongside them and how difficult it would be too move on from it. The other half of his mind, however, was firmly planted in his usual confidence in his club's abilities, fatherly love and pride in his current students long shared with so many others before them, and his familiar determination to allow his club to prove once again just how powerful they were.

Admittedly, he knew that it would never get easier to say goodbye to the students who'd become surrogate children to him in all but name, no matter how many generations of them came and went. But at the same time, he knew that, as difficult as it had been, and likely always would be, he would always be able to keep moving forward and allowing the club, and the memory of all its previous generations, no matter how many of them managed to return to his life every now and then, would always keep living on in the memory of the club's achievements and the way the lives of all its miscellaneous members over the years had turned out ever since their departure as a direct result of their time as New Directioneers. And when the inevitable time came for Tess and Riley's generation to depart and a new generation to take their place, he would grin and bear his way through it and come to love the new generation that came just as much as he loved this current generation and still loved all the others that had come before it. Because that was what the New Directions always did.

In fact, as he even now still continued to remember fondly, it was what basically what the entire basic concept of any proper glee club was all about. After all, as his own teacher from his time in the William McKinley High glee club, Lillian Adler, had made clear time and time again, 'By its very definition, Glee is about opening yourself up to joy'. And that was what he had done for years ever since the reins of the club had finally ended up in his own worthy hands after being passed aside from Lillian's previous, and horridly unworthy, successor Sandy Ryerson. And in fact, it was he even now was still continuing to do after all these years. And by God, he would continue to allow the New Directions to fulfill this basic goal in the years to come, no matter how many generations came and went under his leadership. He would continue to make sure the New Directions continued to fulfill this goal all the way to the grave. And somehow, even if it meant having to work from beyond the grave, he would make sure that whoever took the reins after him would continue to allow this goal to be fulfilled. For no world deserved to be without joy. No world deserved to be without glee. And glee, by its very definition, was about opening yourself to joy.

 **The End**

 **And just like that, another Glee-ful piece of literature from your's truly is over. Boy I'm hoping you all enjoyed this, leave plenty of feedback, and that this story likewise proves more than worth the wait I put you guys through. And with that in mind, to continue the spread of good news. I shall be starting work on another multi-chapter Glee story for the GWAFU now that I've finished and posted this story. And that being said, in order for this story in question to become available for you all to read, I require a MINIMUM of THREE reviews for this individual story. The sooner this story gets at least 3 reviews, the less time you'll have to wait for me to post the first chapter of my next Glee story after I've finished writing said chapter ^_^. Sound fun? I certainly hope so! And with that said, I might as well also go ahead and give you a few questions and bits of useful information. For starters, I'm sure you've noticed how Emma Pillsbury Schuester has quite a bit of focus and POV storyline in this piece. Since you may yet still remember how relatively little focus she got in the main GWAF story and First Love Isn't Always Forever, I'd really appreciate it if you all let me know what you think on how well I wrote and portrayed her here. After all, like I just said, all this newly applied large amounts of focus on her is some very real new waters for me to have tread. Also, I'd best remind you (in the event that it wasn't already clear) that the events of this story unfold 2 years before the events of the main GWAF story. Therefore, at this time, the canonical alumni that gathered together for the reunion are still living their respective separate ways, the 13 brand new ND members you've all come to know and love over the course of GWAF have still not yet become members of the New Directions (not to mention that all but one of them are still not even yet at McKinley High at this point in the GWAFU), and Mr. Schuester is still firmly established with the generation of New Directioneers that came before the one we all got to meet in GWAF. For that matter, while I know that Riley and Tess are kinda out of the blue and that they won't entirely get all that much focus in the GWAFU outside this story, I hope that you have somewhat good opinions and such to say about them. And for that matter, feel free to also comment on how well I had this all unfold for the future ND members of GWAF in regards to the current point in this story universe's history and how well I did at retroactively setting up and foreshadowing events that befall them in GWAF. And believe me, I mean every one of the characters in question.**

 **Once again, I hope you all enjoyed this new story! Please leave a nice, respectable amount of reviews (with an exact** ** _minimum_** **of** ** _3_** **). And feel free to be as detailed or as concise as you wish. Once again, hope you enjoyed! Have fun! Looking forward to further gracing you with more Glee-ful literature of mine with my next upcoming Glee story ^_^. Again, I hope that this new installment to the GWAFU proves more than worth the Hell long wait I put you all through and that you haven't lost faith in my eventually returning to provide you with more of my awesome work left to be offered. Again; thank you.**


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